THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


GIFT  OF 
Col.  Arnold  W.   Shutter 


/ 


OUTLINES 


OF  THE 


WORLD'S    HISTORY. 


WITH   SPECIAL   RELATION   TO  THB 


HISTORY  OF  CIVILIZATION  AND  THE  PROGRESS 
OF  MANKIND. 


Fof  use  in  the  Higher  Classes  in  Public  Schools,  and  in  High  Schools, 
Academies,  Seminaries,  etc. 


By    WILLIAM    SWINTON, 

ft.utlior  of  Condensed  History  of  tne  United  States.  Campaigns  of  the  Army  ol  llie  Potomac, 
Word-Analysis,  Word-Book,  etc. 


NEW  YORK  •:•  CINCINNATI     :•  CHICAGO 

AMERICAN    BOOK    COMPANY 


Copyright,  1874,  by  IVISON,   BLAKEMAN,  TAYLOR,   &  CO. 

Copyright,  1902,  by  JEAN   SWINTON. 

e-P  6 


In  preparing  the  following  Outlines  of  the  World's  His- 
tory the  author  has  assumed  that  the  proper  aim  of  such 
historical  study  as  can  be  pursued  in  high  schools  and 
academies  should  be  to  give  the  learner  a  general  vie7u  of 
human  progress,  —  to  furnish,  for  example,  brief  but  explicit 
answers  to  such  questions  as  these : 

1.  What  7uere  the  Egyptians,  Greeks,  Persians,  Hebrews, 
Latins,  Spaniards,  English,  etc.  ?  What  did  each  of  these 
nations  contribute  to  the  common  stock  of  civilization  ? 

2.  In  what  forms  did  the  mind  of  the  race  express  itself : 
in  religion,  war,  law-making,  political  organization,  litera- 
ture, art  ? 

3.  What  was  the  actual  life  of  the  people  themselves, — 
their  condition  as  regards  political  freedom,  education, 
physical  well-being,  food,  dress,  trade,  society,  etc.  ?  What 
were  their  ways  of  thinking,  and  how  did  these  show  them- 
selves in  the  manners,  customs,  and  social  usages  of  the 
time  ? 

4.  What  have  been  the  great  steps  in  human  progress,  — 
the  discoveries,  social  and  political  changes,  advances  in 
thought  and  skill,  that  have  carried  forward  civilization 
and  the  "  betterment  of  man's  estate  "  (Bacon) ;  and  what 


TV  PREFACE. 

is  the  series  of  events  that  has  brought  the  world  up  to  its 
present  standard  of  enlightenment  and  knowledge? 

These  are  questions  that  we  have  learned  to  ask  only  in 
comparatively  recent  times.  The  asking  of  them  and  the 
answering  of  them  have  given  us  history  in  its  modern 
sense  ;  that  is  to  say,  history  as  a  showing  forth  of  the  life  of 
nations,  in  place  of  history  as  the  mere  biography  of  kings, 
or  the  record  of  battles  and  sieges,  of  dynasties  and  courts. 

The  theory  of  this  book  may  be  stated  in  a  single  sen- 
tence :  it  is,  to  bring  to  the  treatment  of  history  for  elemen- 
tary instruction  the  same  method  that  has  proved  fruitful 
and  interesting  in  the  larger  classic  works.  Such  treat- 
ment is  in  marked  contrast  with  that  of  the  compendiums 
in  ordinary  use,  which  consist  mainly  of  catalogues  of  facts 
and  of  chronologic  data.  The  author  believes,  however, 
that  the  judgment  of  progressive  teachers  will  fully  coincide 
with  his  own  in  this :  that  far  more  valuable  and  more 
lasting  results  can  be  secured  by  giving  scholars  a  vivid 
general  view  of  the  institutions  and  civilization  of  the 
greater  nations  than  by  cramming  the  memory  with  ever 
so  imposing  an  array  of  isolated  facts  and  dates. 

This  book  has  grov/n  out  of  a  great  deal  of  experiment- 
ing with  classes,  —  testing  of  what  pupils  can  take  in  and 
assimilate,  of  what  becomes  fruitful  in  their  minds,  and  of 
what,  on  the  other  hand,  is  retained  with  difficulty  or  for- 
gotten with  ease.  Care  has  been  taken  to  cast  the  para- 
graphs into  such  a  form  that  the  subject-matter  of  each 
-aiay  be  easily  grasped  by  the  pupil  and  the  same  readily 
elicited  by  means  of  the  marginal  notes,  —  a  device  which 
jeems  to  be  better  suited  to  a  work  of  this  grade  than 
mere  literal  questions  would  be.     It  is  scarcely  necessary  to 


PREFACE.  ▼ 

call  attention  to  the  maps :  they  have  been  drawn  with  great 
care  by  Mr.  Jacob  Wells,  and  will  be  found  both  accurate 
and  ample.  The  engraving-work,  which  is  exceptionally 
excellent,  is  by  Mr.  John  Karst. 

In  addition  to  these  features  there  are  two  salient  points 
to  which  notice  is  called :  i.  This  manual  is  made  from 
modern  material,  and  presents  the  fruit  of  those  researches 
that  have  so  essentially  modified  and  so  greatly  enlarged 
our  views  both  of  antiquity  and  of  more  recent  times.  2. 
It  is  written  in  the  spirit  of  the  modern  method,  —  that 
method  which  deals  with  the  broad,  vital  facts,  rather  than 
with  the  pedantries  of  history. 

As,  by  the  courses  of  study  in  our  public  schools,  general 
history  is  not  taken  up  until  after  several  years'  work  on 
the  history  of  our  own  country,  it  would  have  been  quite 
superfluous  to  insert  her';  an  imperfect  compendium  of 
what  has  already  been  gone  over  in  detail ;  hence  in  this 
book  the  history  of  the  United  States  is  treated  only  in  so 
far  as  it  touches  that  of  other  nations. 

The  author  is  deeply  impressed  with  the  conviction  that 
history,  studied  in  the  right  manner,  is  of  fundamental  im- 
portance in  the  growth  of  the  mental  and  moral  nature. 
And  he  believes  that  such  study  is  of  especial  moment  in 
our  own  country,  as  a  preparation  for  citizenship  in  a  free, 
self-governing  nation  :  for  how  can  we  appreciate  what  we 
enjoy,  unless  we  know  how  it  cajne  to  be?  In  the  sincere 
hope  that  this  survey  of  the  providential  ordainment  of 
human  affairs  may  prove  helpful,  both  to  intellectual  growth 
and  the  formation  of  character,  it  is  commended  to  the 
judgment  of  the  teaching  profession. 

WILLIAM   SWINTON. 

Cambridge,  Aug.,  1874. 


NOTE   TO    REVISED   EDITION. 

In  the  present  edition  the  Outlines  of  HistOiy  has 
undergone  a  careful  revision  in  the  light  of  valuable 
suggestions  from  teachers  who  have  had  the  work  in  use 
in  the  class-room.  To  such  teachers  the  author  takes 
pleasure  in  expressing  his  heart}^  thanks.  He  has  also  to 
acknowledge  in  a  very  particular  manner  his  obligations 
to  Prof.  C.  K.  Adams,  of  the  University  of  Michigan, 
who  kindly  went  through  the  whole  book  and  commu- 
nicated to  the  author  his  scholarly  annotations.  The  pres- 
ent edition  contains  such  modification  of  the  text  as  were 
necessitated  by  these  suggestions.  It  is  proper  to  add 
that  the  textual  differences  are  not  such  as  to  interfere 
with  the  simultaneous  use  of  both  old  and  new  editions 
in  the  class. 


INTRODUCTION 


PAGE 
I 


SECTION     I. 

THE    ANCIENT    ORIENTAL    MONARCHIES. 

tHAF-TER 

I.    Geographical  Sketch 8 

II.    Egypt 12 

1.  Historical  Outline 12 

2.  Egyptian  Civilization       ......  20 

III.  The  Assyrians  and  Babylonians      ....  27 

1.  Introduction 27 

2.  Early  Babylonian,  or  Chaldsean,  Kingdom          .  29 

3.  Assyria    .........  32 

4.  Later  Babylonian  Kingdom         •         •         •         •  35 

IV.  The  Hebrews 38 

V.    The  Phcenicians .43 

VI.    The  Hindoos          ........  50 

VII.    The  Persian  Empire 55 

1.  Historical  Outline 55 

2.  Persian  Civilization 60 

VIII.    Commerce  of  the  Ancients 64 


via 


CONTENTS. 


SECTION    II. 


HISTORY     OF     GREECE. 

I.    General  Sketch 73 

II.    History  of  the  First  Period  :     From    the    Dorian 
Migration  to  the  beginning  of  the  Persian  Wars, 

1100-500  B.  C 81 

1.  Beginnings  of  Greek  History      ....  81 

2.  Growth  of  Sparta  and  Athens          ....  85 

III.  History  of  the  Second  Period  :  From  the  beginning 

of  the  .Persian  War  to  the  Victory  of  Philip  of 

Macedon  at  Ch^eronea,  B.  C.  500-338  ...  91 

I.  The  Persian  Invasions 91 

8.  The  Age  of  Pericles q8 

3.  The  Peloponnesian  War lOO 

4.  Period  of  Spartan  and  Theban  Supremacy     .         .  10: 

IV.  History  of  the  Third  Pekiod  :    From  the  Victory  of 

Philip  to  the  Absorption  of  Greece  by  the  Romans  103 

I,  Supremacy  of  Macedon, — Philip     ....  103 

3.  Career  of  Alexander  the  Great   ....  104 

3.  Alexander's  Successors 108 

4.  Later  History  of  Macedon  and  Greece       ,        .  105 

V.    Grecian  Civilization     .        .        .        .        .        .        .114 

I.  Political  Ideas    .......  114 

a    Religion JJ^4 

3.  Grecian  Festivals        ......  117 

4.  Greek  Literature  and  Philosophy  »        .        .  119 

5.  Grecian  Art I25 

6.  Greek  Life,  Manners,  etc.       .        ,        .        -        ,  138 


CONTENTS. 


IX 


SECTION    III. 


HISTORY  OF   ROME. 


CMAPTBR 

I.    Geography  and  Races 


II.    Primeval  Rome.— Period  of  the  Kings 

III.  The  Roman  Republic     .        .        .        • 

1.  Epoch  of  the  Struggle  for  Existence  . 

Great  Names  of  Early  Rome 

2.  Epoch  of  the  Roman  Conquest  of  Italy 

3.  Epoch  of  Foreign  Conquest    . 

4.  Epoch  of  Civil  Strife   .... 

IV.  Rome  as  an  Empire        .... 

1.  Age  of  Augustus         .... 

2.  Political  History     .... 

3.  Spread  of  Christianity  .        .        . 

4.  Roman  Life,  Manners,  Customs,  etc. 
J.  Last  Days  of  Rome     .... 


MGB 

130 

136 
136 
137 
143 

182 
182 

igi 
194 
201 
207 


SECTION    IV. 

MEDIiEVAL     HISTORY. 

Introduction  ....               ....  212 

I.    The  New  Races         .        ,               ....  213 

II.    Three  Centuries  of  History      .....  221 

1.  The  Byzantine  Empire        .....  221 

2.  Italy  down  to  Charlemagne    .....  222 

3.  Beginnings  of  France          .        .        •        .        <  224 

4.  Beginnings  of  England 225 

5.  Rise  of  the  Saracens 227 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

III.  Empire  of  Charlemagne 234 

IV.  The  Feudal  System 240 

V.    Growth  of  the  Papal  Power    .        .        .        •        .  247 

VI.    The  Crusades 253 

1.  Introduction ,        .  253 

2.  The  First  Crusade 256 

3.  The  Second  Crusade 261 

4.  The  Third  Crusade 262 

5.  The  Later  Crusades 264 

6.  Results  of  the  Crusades      .        .        ,        .        .  265 

VII.    Chivalry, — its  Rise  and  Decay         ....  267 

VIII.    Civilization  in  the  Middle  Ages         ...  272 

1.  The  Dark  Ages 272 

2.  The  Age  of  Revival. —  Cities  and  Commerce    .  276 

IX.    Political  Outline  :  From  Charlemagne  to  the  Close  of 

the  Middle  Ages 285 

1.  The  German  Empire 285 

2.  France 287 

3.  England 291 

4.  Italy 295 

5.  Spain                 808 

SECTION    V. 

modern  history. 
\.  Transition  to  Modern  History  .       .       .       .30? 

1.  Introduction 305 

2.  Fall  of  the  Eastern  Empire 306 

3.  Maritime  Discoveries 308 

4.  The  Revival  of  Learning 312 

5.  Decline  of  Feudalism 314 

6.  Rise  of  Great  Monarchies 315 


CONTENTS. 


x\ 


II.    Great  Events  of  the  Sixteenth  Century 

1.  Age  of  Charles  V.         .... 

2.  England  under  Henry  VIII.    .        .        , 

3.  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic 

4.  Civil  and  Religious  Wars  of  France 

5.  Age  of  Queen  Elizabeth 

Great  Names  of  the  Sixteenth  Centi  ry 

IIL    Great  Events  of  tke  Seventeenth  Century 

1.  England  under  the  Stuarts 

2.  The  Thirty  Years'  War 

3.  The  Age  of  Louis  XIV 

4.  Progress  of  Civilization 

Great  Names  of  the  Seventeenth  Century    . 

IV.    Great  Events  of  the  Eighteenth  Century 

1.  England  under  the  Georges 

2.  Prussia  and  Frederick  the  Great 

3.  The  Rise  of  Russia 

4.  The  French  Revolution        ... 

5.  Progress  of  Civilization    .... 
Great  Names  of  the  Eighteenth  Century 

V.    Great  Events  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 

1.  The  Consulate  and  the  Empire    . 

2.  Modern  English  Politics 

3.  Revolutions  in  French  Politics   . 

4.  The  Unification  of  Italy    .... 

5.  The  German  Empire  Restored     . 
Great  Names  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 

INDEX .        o       . 


Ancient  Oriental  Monarchies.     {Double  page.) 
Historic  Era  at  the  Beginning  of  Records 
Egypt  at  the  Time  of  Persian  Conquest    . 
Dominion  of  Solomon   .... 
Phcenicia  and  her  Colonies    . 
Persian  Empire.     {Double page.) 
Routes  of  Ancient  Commerce 
Greece  and  her  Colonies.     {Double page.) 
Greece  before  Dorian  Migration  . 
Greek  Races  after  Dorian  Migration 
Persian  Invasions  of  Greece  . 
Vicinity  of  Marathon  and  Athens  . 

Thermopyl^ 

Races  of  Ancient  Italy 
Latium,  or  Primeval  Ro.me 

The  Punic  Wars 

Mithridatic  Wars      ..... 
Campaigns  of  C/esar      .... 
Roman  Empire.     {Doiible page.)   . 
Plan  of  Ancient  Rome. 
Europe,  Close  of  6th  Century 
Original  Home  of  the  English 

Europe,  a.  d.  800. 

Map  of  the  Crusades    .... 
Iberian  Peninsula,  1491     .... 
Europe,  i6th  Century.     {Double page!) 
Globular  View  ok  Geographic  Discoveries 
Europe,  Time  of  Napoleon.     {Double page !^ 


Page 
8 
II 
13 
39 
44 
54 
65 
72 

77 
83 
92 

93 
96 

131 
133 
I4i 
161 
167 
182 
186 
220 
226 

233 
252 
298 

304 
308 
440 


OUTLINES  OF  HISTORY. 


INTRODUCTION. 

1.  History  may  be  defined,  in  a  general  way,  as  the  rec 
ord  of  the  life  of  mankind.     In  a  more  special   History  de- 
view,  it  is  the  narrative  of  the  rise  and  progress   ^"^'^• 

of  those  famous  peoples  whose  doings  constitute  the  history 
of  civilization. 

2.  In  this  its  proper  and  highest  sense  history  presup- 
poses  the  races  advanced  beyond  the  natural  its  relation  to 
or  primitive  state,  and  gathered  in  political  "^*'°"s- 
communities,  or  nations ;  and  it  confines  itself  to  those 
nations  whose  achievements  have  influenced  the  general 
current  of  the  world's  affairs,  and  made  the  condition  of 
the  world  what  we  now  see  it. 

3.  Respecting  mankind  outside  of  nations,  there  is  much 
interesting  and  valuable  knowledge,  supplied  Aids  to 

by  various  sciences.     Among  these  are, —  history. 

Ethnol'ogy,  or  the  science  of  the  several  races,  or  types 
of  mankind. 

ARCHiEOL'oGY,  or   the  science  of  the  ancient  works  d 
man. 

Philol'ogy,  or  the  science  of  language. 

By  the  aid  of  these  sciences  much  is  now  known  regard- 
ing humanity  in  its  lower  stages  of  progress.  In  our  own 
times  a  vast  amount  of  inquiry  has  been  made  into  the  con- 
dition of  the  primeval  races  ;  interesting  studies  have  been 
made  also  on  the  customs,  manners,  arts,  languages,  and 
religions  of  savage  tribes. 
f 


OUTLINES  OF  GENERAL   hlSTORY. 


4.  These  researches  belong  to  Anthropol'ogy,  which 
Difference  be-  dcals  with  man  in  natural  history,  rather  than 
poTy^a^nd"^"'  to  HlSTORY  proper,  which  deals  with  nations, 
History.  ^j^^t  is  to  Say,  with  man  in  civilization. 

5.  Viewing  history  as  confined  to  the  series  of  leading 
The  real  his-  civilizcd  nations,  we  observe  that  it  has  to  do 
tone  race.  \;\\}ci  but  one  grand  division  of  the  human  fam- 
ily, namely,  with  the  Caucasian,  or  white  race.  To  this 
division  belonged  the  people  of  all  the  elder  nations,  — 
the  Eg}'ptians,  Assyr'ians  and  Babylo'nians,  the  Hebrews 
and  the  Phoeni'cians,  the  Hin'doos,  the  Persians,  the  Greeks, 
and  the  Romans.  Of  course,  the  modern  European  na- 
tions, as  also  the  states  founded  by  European  colonists,  all 
belong  to  this  ethnological  division.  Thus  we  see  that  his- 
tory proper  concerns  itself  with  but  one  highly  developed 
type  of  mankind ;  for  though  the  great  bulk  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  globe  has,  during  the  whole  recorded  period, 
belonged,  and  does  still  belong,  to  other  types  of  mankind, 
yet  the  Caucasians  form  the  only  truly  historical  race. 
Hence  we  may  say  that  civilization  is  the  product  of  the 
brain  of  this  race. 

Of  the  peoples  outside  of  the  Caucasian  race  that  have  made  some 
figure  in  civilization,  the  Chinese,  Mexicans,  and  Peruvians  stand  alone. 
But  though  those  races  rose  considerably  above  the  savage  state,  their 
civilization  was  stationary,  and  they  had  no  marked  influence  on  the 
general  current  of  the  world's  progress. 

6.  Modem  scholars  divide  this  historical  stock  —  the 
Its  three  di-  Caucasian  race  —  into  three  main  branches : 
visions.  J  'pj^g  A'ryan,  or  Indo-European  branch; 
H.  The  Semit'ic  branch ;  III.  The  Hamit'ic  branch.  This 
classification  is  a  linguistic  one,  —  that  is  to  say,  it  is  a 
division  based  on  the  nature  of  the  languages  spoken  by 
the  three  families  of  nations,  —  but  at  the  same  time  it 
represents  three  distinct  civilizations. 


INTRODUCTION. 


7.  The  Aryan  branch  is  that  division  to  which  we  our- 
selves belong: :  it  includes  nearly  all  the  pres-  ^ 

,  °         .  -  T-  ^u      /".         1  ^^*  Aryans. 

ent  and  past  nations  of  Europe,  —  the  Greeks, 
Latins,  Germans  or  Teu'tons,  Celts,  and  Slavo'nians,  —  to- 
gether with  two  ancient  Asiatic  peoples,  namely,  the  Hin 
doos  and  the  Persians. 

8.  The  evidence  of  language  shows  that  the  Celtic,  Ger* 
man,  Slavonian,  Greek,  and  Latin  tongues  all  Their  unity, 
bear  a  remarkable  family  likeness,  and  that  ^°^  proved, 
they  share  this  likeness  with  the  Sanscrit,  which  was  the 
ancient  language  of  India,  and  with  the  Zend,  the  ancient 
language  of  Persia.  It  is  quite  certain  that  the  forefathers 
of  the  Persians  and  of  the  Hindoos  and  the  forefathers  of 
all  the  European  nations  were  once  one  people,  and  lived 
together  somewhere  in  Western  Asia.  This  was  at  a  time 
long  before  the  beginning  of  recorded  history  (for  we  know 
nothing  of  the  Greeks,  Latins,  Germans,  Celts,  etc.,  as  such, 
until  we  find  them  in  Europe) ;  but  still  it  is  proved  by  the 
evidence  of  language  that  their  original  home  and  native 
seat  was  Asia. 

9.  The  Semitic  branch  includes  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  Syria,  Arabia,  and  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates   g^^^^j^^g 
countries.     The  leading  historical  representa- 
tives of  the  Semitic  branch  are  the  Hebrews,  Phoenicians, 
Assyrians,  and  Arabs. 

10.  The  Hamitic  branch  has  but  one  prominent  repre- 
sentative, —  the    Egyptians.      It   is   probable,    ^^^. 
however,  that  the  ancient  Chalds'ans  also  be- 
longed to  this  race. 

11.  The  history  of  the  civilized  world  is  the  history  ol 
the  Aryan,  Semitic,  and  Hamitic  races.  It  is  comparison  of 
of  interest  to  know  that  the  race  to  which  we  ^^^  races, 
belong,  the  Aryan,  has  always  played  the  leading  part  in 
the  great  drama  of  the  world's  progress.  The  Hamitic 
nations,  the  Egyptians  and  Chaldaeans,  though  they  devel- 


OUTLINES  O^  GENERAL  HISTORY. 


oped  a  peculiar  type  of  civilization,  yet  grew  up  and  re 
mained  in  a  great  degree  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  worlo. 
having  no  considerable  influence  on  the  main  current  c* 
history.  As  to  the  Semites,  there  is  one  respect  in  which 
they  have  the  greatest  place  in  the  story  of  mankind, 
namely,  in  religious  development ;  for  the  three  religions 
that  have  taught  men  that  there  is  but  one  God  —  namely, 
the  Jewish,  the  Christian,  and  the  Mahom'etan  —  have  all 
come  from  among  them.  But,  aside  from  this,  the  Semites 
do  not  make  nearly  so  important  or  so  conspicuous  a  figure 
in  history  as  do  the  Aryans,  or  Indo-Europeans.  They 
have  never  been  greatly  progressive.  They  have  generally 
shown  a  conservative  disposition  that  has,  in  the  main, 
kept  them  fixed  to  theiv  native  seat,  in  the  small  tract  of 
country  betvveen  the  Tigris,  the  Mediterranean,  and  the 
Red  Sea.  Thus  they  have  not,  like  the  Aryans,  been  the 
planters  of  new  nations ;  and  they  have  never  attained  a 
high  intellectual  development,  or  that  progress  in  political 
freedom,  in  science,  art,  and  literature,  which  is  the  glory 
of  the  Aryan  nations. 

12.  If  we  trace  back  the  present  civilization  of  the  ad- 
The  Aryans  in  vanced  nations  of  the  world,  —  our  own  civil- 
history,  ization,  and  that  of  England,  Germany,  France, 
Italy,  etc., — we  shall  find  that  much  of  it  is  connected  by 
direct  and  unbroken  line  with  the  Roman.  The  Romans, 
in  turn,  were  heirs  of  the  Greeks.  Now,  all  this  is  Aryan ; 
and  when  we  go  back  to  the  primitive  age  of  the  undivided 
Aryans  in  Asia,  we  see  that  this  race  must  even  then  have 
been  placed  far  above  the  condition  of  mere  savages,  and 
that  they  had  made  good  beginnings  in  government,  and 
social  life,  and  religion,  and  the  simple  mechanical  arts. 
Thus  we  are  fully  authorized  to  say  that  the  Aryans  are 
peculiarly  the  race  of  progress ;  and  a  very  large  part  of 
the  history  of  the  world  must  be  taken  up  with  an  account 
of  the  contributions  which  the  Aryan  nations  have  made  to 
the  common  stock  of  civilization. 


INTRODUCTION.  5 


13.  In  these  Outlines  of  the  world's  history  we  shall 

\ake  up  : Divisions  of 

I.  The  groups  of  ancient  Oriental  nations,   *^'^  ''°°''- 
including,  i.  The  Egyptians ;  2.  The  Assyro-Babylonians  ; 
3.  The  Hebrews;  4.  The  Phoenicians;  5.  The  Hindoos;  6. 
The  Persians. 

II.  The  history  of  Greece. 

III.  The  history  of  the  Roman  Dominion. 

IV.  The  history  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

V.  The  history  of  the  modern  European  states  and  na- 
tions. 

14.  The  entire  historical  period,  commencing  with  the 
early  Empires  of  the  East,  and  coming  down  chronologic 
to  our  own  times,  is  usually  divided  into  dis-  pe"ods. 
tinct  portions,  sometimes  two  and  sometimes  three ;  that 
is  to  say,  some  historians  make  a  double  division,  into 
Ancient  history  and  Modern  history ;  and  others  a  triple 
division,  into  Ancient,  Mediceval,  and  Modern  history.  In 
either  case  Ancient  history  ends  with  the  breaking  up  of 
the  Dominion  of  Rome,  in  the  fifth  century  A.  D.  (fall  of 
the  Western  Roman  Empire,  476  a.  d.).  Then,  if  we  make 
the  doiihle  division,  Modern  history  will  begin  with  the 
downfall  of  Rome ;  but  if  the  triple  division,  the  interval 
from  the  fifth  to  the  fifteenth  century  will  be  regarded  as 
a  period  by  itself,  called  Mediaeval  history,  or  the  history 
of  the  Middle  Ages ;  while  Modern  history,  according  to 
this  method,  will  be  confined  to  the  centuries  between  the 
fifteenth  and  the  present  time. 

15.  Such  divisions  of  the  historic  period  into  portions 
are  merely  arbitrary,  seeing  that  history  forms  Nature  of  th« 
in  reality  an  unbroken  whole.  We  shall  adopt  divisions, 
the  triple  division  for  practical  convenience,  though  per- 
haps the  double  division  is  the  more  philosophical ;  for 
while  we  think  of  the  ages  as  forming  a  continuous  stream, 
the  Roman  Dominion  may  still  be  regarded  as  a  reservoir 


6  OUTLINES  OF  GENERAL   HISTORY. 

into  which  all  the  currents  of  history  from  the  anterior  ages 
were  gathered,  and  from  which,  in  turn,  the  ampler  currents 
of  Modern  history  have  flowed.  It  was  out  of  the  breaking 
up  of  the  great  Dominion  of  Rome  in  the  fifth  century  a.  d. 
(when  the  Western  Roman  Empire  fell,  under  the  attacks 
of  the  Gothic  invaders,  and  of  other  new  races  loosely  called 
"Northern  barbarians")  that  the  modern  states  of  Europe 
—  that  is,  Italy,  Spain,  France,  England,  Germany,  etc. — 
gradually  took  their  rise. 

l6.    In  the  largest  sense,  however,  history  is  a  unit:  its 
.     epochs   form   but   acts   in   one   grand   Provi- 

History  a  unit.     ,         .    ,     ,  ,  ,       -       °  ,  .     , 

dential  drama ;  one  thread  of  progress  bmds 
nation  to  nation  ;  and,  looking  at  humanity  as  a  whole,  we 
see  that 

Through  the  ages  one  increasing  purpose  runs, 

And  the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the  process  ob 

THE  suns. 

Tennyson. 

ANALYTIC   SYNOPSIS   FOR   REVIEW. 

1     Definition  of  History.     (IT  i.) 

Anthropology,    )  how  distinguished.     (If  4.) 
History  proper,  J 

II.     Aids  to  History. 

Ethnology,      \ 

Archeology,   [  how  defined.     (IT  3.) 

Philology,       ) 

III.     Divisions  of  the  Caucasian  Race. 

'Hindoos, 


Aryan  (Indo-European) 
Branch.    (H  7.) 


Persians, 
Greeks, 
Latins, 
Germans, 
Celts, 
^Slavonians. 


INTRODUCTION. 


IV. 


V. 


Semitic  Branch.     (IF  9.) 


Hebrews, 

Phcenicians, 

Assyrians, 

Arabs. 


Hamitic  Branch.    (1[  10.)  j  Egyptians, 

\  ChALD/EANS. 


Divisions  of  History.     (TT  13.) 

1.  Oriental  Nations. 

2.  Greece. 

3.  Rome. 

4.  The  Middle  Ages. 

5.  Modern  History. 

Chronologic  Periods.     (^  14.) 

Ancient  History,  from  the  earliest  period  to  the  fall  of  the 
Western  Roman  Empire,  476  A.  D. 

Medieval  History,   from   the  fall  of  the  Western  Roman 

Empire  to  the  close  of  the  15th  century. 
Modern  History,  from  the  close  of  the  15th  century  to  the 

present  time. 


8  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

SECTION    I. 

THE  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

CHAPTER    I. 
GEOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH. 

1.  The  ancient  Oriental  civilizations  to  be  treated  of  in 
Oriental  na-  this  section  Comprise  the  monarchies  of  Egypt, 
*'°"®-  Assyr'ia  and  Babylo'nia,  Judce'a,  PhcEni'cia, 
India,  and  Persia. 

2.  With  the  single  exception  of  Egypt,  the  seat  of  all  the 

ancient  Oriental  nations  was  in  Asia.     And  of 

Historic  area.        ,  .  ,      ,.    .   .  .      ,  ,    ,        .      .  , 

this  grand  division  of  the  globe  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  only  a  small  part  has  any  connection  with 
history  proper.  Historical  Asia  is  in  reality  Southwestern 
Asia. 

3.  All  that  part  of  Asia  north  of  the  Altai  range  is  a  com- 
.,    ^.        .  .     paratively  barren  waste.     It  was  almost  wholly 

Northern  Asia.         .■'...  ■' 

unknown  m  antiquity. 

4.  Central  Asia,  extending  between  the  50th  and  the  40th 
Central  Asia      pai'^Hels  of  north  latitude,  — known  to  ancient 

writers  as  Scyt/i'ia,  —  is  a  region  of  vast  pla- 
teaus. Being  destitute  of  arable  land,  it  is  a  mere  country 
of  pasture.  It  has  always  supported  a  great  population; 
but  a  population  of  nomads  without  fixed  habitations  or 
cities,  and  with  no  other  form  of  political  association  than 
patriarchal  government.  Accordingly,  the  races  of  this  re- 
gion have  played  no  part  in  history,  except  that  the  Mongo- 
lian or  Tartar  races,  inhabiting  the  great  steppes,  have  at 
times  poured  down  upon  and  conquered  the  civilized  coun- 
tries. 


JBast      I^mi/it 


GEOGRAPHICAL  SKE'JcH.  9 


5.  The  real  theater  of   Asiatic   histor}%  namely,  South- 
western Asia,  may   be   subdivided  into   three    Division  of 
regions:  i.  that  west  of  the  Euphra'tes  ;   2.  the   Western  Asia, 
valleys  of   the   Euphrates  and   Tigris ;   3.  the  region  be- 
tween the  Zagros  Mountains  and  the  In'dus  basin  inclusive. 

6.  West  of  the  Euphrates  we  have  :  i.  The  peninsula  of 
Asia  Minor,  the  seat  of  several  nationalities  (of 

,  .    ,      ,  e   -r      If  1  •  \     First  region. 

which  that  of  Lyd'ia  was  the  most  important) 
nnd  of  various  Grecian  colonies ;  their  history  is,  however, 
connected  as  much  with  Europe  as  with  Asia.  2.  Syr'ia, 
bordering  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 
and  comprising  three  distinct  parts:  (i)  Syria  proper;  (2) 
Phoenicia,  including  the  narrow  strip  of  coast  between 
Leb'anon  and  the  sea ;  (3)  Palestine,  south  of  Phoenicia. 
3.  The  peninsula  of  Arabia,  stretching  southeastward.  This 
last  is  of  comparatively  little  importance  in  ancient  history. 

7.  In  the  basins  of  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates  were 
several  distinct  territorial  divisions:   i.  Arme'- 

,       ,  .    ,  ,         1  .        ,  «•■.»•  Secondregion. 

ma,  or  the  highland  region  between  Asia  Minor 
and  the  Caspian  Sea.  2.  Assyria  proper,  which  lay  east 
of  the  Tigris  River  and  west  of  the  Zagros  Mountains. 
3.  Babylonia,  comprising  the  great  alluvial  plain  between 
the  lower  course  of  the  Tigris  and  of  the  Euphrates,  and 
stretching  westward  to  the  Syrian  Desert.  4.  Chaldae'a,  the 
country  at  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  stretching  west- 
ward from  the  lower  waters  of  the  Euphrates  to  the  Syrian 
Desert.  5.  Mesopota'mia,  or  the  district  between  the 
two  great  rivers.  6.  Susia'na,  including  the  country  lying 
along  the  Tigris  east  of  Babylonia. 

8.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  these  territories  were 
jeverally  the  seat  of  distinct  nations.  We  may  Nations  in 
■ay  that  three  great  monarchies  ruled  in  the  ^^"=°"'^  region, 
valleys  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  down  to  the  time  when 
:hese  territories  were  absorbed  in  Persia  (6th  century  b.  c). 
These  were  the  Chaldaean,  Babylonian,  and  Assyrian  king- 


10  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL   MONARCHIES. 

doms ;  and  of  these  the  last,  at  the  height  of  its  power, 
held  sway  over  nearly  the  entire  region  between  the  Zagros 
Mountains  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 

9.  The  table-land  of  ancient  Iran  (Persia)  lay  to  the  east 
Eastern  di-  of  the  Zagros  chain  of  mountains,  which  sep- 
vision.  arated  it  from  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates  ba- 
sins. In  the  north,  toward  the  Caspian  Sea,  was  Media ; 
to  the  south,  and  reaching  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  was  ancient 
Persia  proper.  Farther  eastward,  and  stretching  to  the 
south,  was  the  peninsula  of  India,  forming  the  eastern  limit 
of  ancient  Asiatic  civilization. 

10.  The  earliest  nations  recorded  in  history  arose  in  the 
Civilization  three  alluvial  plains  of  the  Nile,  of  the  Tigris 
and  geography.  ^^^  Euphrates,  and  of  the  Indus.  This  fact 
was  wholly  due  to  physical  causes.  In  a  primitive  state  of 
society,  population  can  gather  into  nations  only  in  regions 
where  a  fertile  soil  produces  abundant  food.  Now  the  three 
alluvial  basins  just  named  are  distinguished  for  their  ex- 
traordinary fertility.  Here  nature  spontaneously  produces 
certain  important  articles  of  food,  such  as  dates,  rice,  etc., 
which,  being  easily  cultivated  and  yielding  immense  re- 
turns, made  a  large  population  possible.  Accordingly,  we 
find  that  in  these  countries  men  had  adopted  fixed  habita- 
tions (a  great  advance  on  the  pastoral  or  nomad  state)  and 
formed  themselves  into  political  associations  at  a  time  long 
antedating  recorded  history. 

11.  As  the  physical  conditions  that  favor  the  formation 
of  human  society  are,  so  far  as  the  Old  World  goes,  found 
only  in  the  alluvial  plains  of  Southwest  Asia  (taking  in 
Cradle  of  na-  Egypt),  as  the  earliest  nations  appear  in  these 
tions.  regions,  and  as  philology  proves  that  all  the 
European  races  came  from  Western  Asia,  —  we  may  safely 
consider  that  here  was,  if  not  the  cradle  of  the  human  race, 
at  least  the  cradle  of  civilization. 

12.  We  shall  begin  with  these  earliest  nations  of  civilized 


CEGCRAPHTCAL  SKETCH. 


IS 


man.  With  the  origin  of  the  human  race,  its  . 
first  seats  and  earliest  distribution,  history  *  '  **  '"^"" 
proper  does  not  undertake  to  deal.  History  commences 
when  historical  records  commence.  Hence  we  must  leave 
to  revelation  and  to  science  the  consideration  of  primitive 
humanity,  and  take  up  our  studies  with  those  ancient  Ori- 
ental nations  that  appear  on  the  stage  of  human  affairs  when 
historic  records  begin. 

13.  When  the  curtain  goes  up  on  antiquity,  —  say  in  the 
23d  century  B.  c,  —  we  have  disclosed  to  view  Earliest  his- 
the  venerable  figures  of  two  civilizations :  that  *°"'^  theater, 
in  the  Nile  Valley  and  that  in  Chaldasa.  And  beyond  this 
narrow  region  the  fore-world  is  to  us  shrouded  in  impene- 
trable darkness. 


12 


ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 


CHAPTER    II. 

EGYPT. 

1.    HISTORICAL   OUTLINE. 


The  Great  Pyramids. 


14.  Egypt  is  the  country  in  which  we  first  find  a  gov- 
Antiquity  of  emment  and  political  institutions  established. 
Egypt-  Egypt  itself  may  not  have  been  the  oldest 
nation^  but  Eg}'ptian  history  is  certainly  the  oldest  history. 
Its  monuments,  records,  and  literature  surpass  in  antiquit)' 
those  of  Chaldffia  and  India,  the  two  next  oldest  nations. 

15.  It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  the  banks  of  the  Nile 
must  have  been  one  of  the  primitive  seats  of  human  soci- 
ety, for  the  condition  already  mentioned   as  favoring  the 

first    formation    of   nations  —  namely,    cheap 
and  abundant  food  —  was  here  present   in  a 
remarkable  degree. 


Why  old. 


EGYPT. 


13 


16.    Egypt  itself  has  been  called 


t,/\    £  D 


I    T  £  R   R  A   A/  £ 
S    £    A 


^    /V 


at  the  time  of 

THE 

PersianConqu 
Cambyses 


from  the  earliest  antiq- 
uity   "  the    Physical  ge- 

Giftofthe  °graphy. 
Nile."  This  mighty 
river,  flowing  from  the 
highlands  of  Abyssinia 
and  the  great  lakes 
cf  equatorial  Africa, 
forms  in  Eg}'pt  a  strip 
of  fertility  in  the  midst 
of  the  desert  waste. 
In  its  annual  overflow 
(due  to  the  immense 
rainfalls  in  the  Abys- 
sinian mountains),  the 
Nile,  by  its  mud  de- 
posits, renews  every 
year  the  soil  of  this 
strip,  so  that  all  the 
people  had  to  do  was 
to  plant,  and  nature 
produced. 

17.     In    Egypt    the 
date-palm  ^    ^    , 

^  Food-plants. 

grew  spon- 
taneously,     and     fur- 
nished the  people  with 
a    cheap     and     abun- 


MAP    STUDY. 

Ancient   Egypt   comprised  three   divisions,  —  Lower   Egypt,    or   the   Delta ;    Middle 
Egypt,  or  the  Heptanomis  ;  Upper  Egypt,  or  the  Thebais. 

I.  In  which  division  was  Memphis.''  2.  On  which  bank  of  the  Nile 
was  Memphis  ?  3.  In  which  division  was  Thebes  ?  4.  Near  which  city 
are  the  Great  Pyramids  .''  5.  What  seaport  at  the  mouth  of  the  eastern 
branch  of  the  Nile  ?  6.  Where  was  the  land  of  Goshen?  7.  W^hat  sea 
north  of  Egypt  .'*  8.  What  is  the  general  course  of  the  Nile  .■'  9.  What 
sea  east  of  Egypt  }     10.  What  celebrated  mountain  in  this  vicinity  ? 


14  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL   MONARCHIES. 

dant  article  of  food.  The  fertility  of  the  soil  also  yielded, 
\vith  slight  labor,  large  crops  of  cereals  (especially  dhourra, 
a  sort  of  maize),  and  the  "  granaries  of  Egypt "  were  the 
storehouse  whence  all  the  peoples  of  the  Mediterranean 
were  wont  to  draw  supplies  in  seasons  of  scarcity, 

18.  The  cheapness  of  living  in  Egypt  led  to  a  great  mul- 
Effect  on  the  tiplication  of  the  population.  A  Greek  writer, 
people.  Diodo'rus  Sic'ulus,  who  traveled  there  nineteen 
centuries  ago,  says  that  to  bring  up  a  child  to  manhood  did 
not  cost  more  than  twenty  drachmas  (less  than  four  dollars 
of  our  money),  —  and  he  notices  this  fact  as  a  cause  of  the 
populousness  of  Egypt. 

19.  Information  in  regard  to  ancient  Egypt  was,  until  the 
Old  sources  of  present  century,  derived  chiefly  from  the  nar- 
information.  j-ativcs  of  the  Greek  historians,  and  especially 
from  that  of  Herod'otus,*  who  traveled  in  Egypt  in  the  5th 
century  B.  c,  and  from  some  fragments  of  a  history  written  in 
Greek  by  Man'etho,  an  Egyptian  priest,  in  the  3d  century  b.  c. 

20.  But  in  modern  times  our  knowledge  of  the  ancient 
The  new  land  has  been  greatly  extended  by  the  discov- 
sources.  ^^  q£  ^^  ^^^  q£  j-g^ding  the  inscriptions  which 
the  Egyptians  of  old  with  great  lavishness  carved  on  their 
buildings  and  monuments,  especially  their  obelisks,  painted 
on  the  frescoed  interiors  of  their  tombs,  and  indeed  placed 
on  almost  every  object  of  use  or  art.  These  writings  were 
in  the  character  called  hieroglyphics,  which  is  a  Greek  term 
meaning  sacred  carvings,  or  priestly  writing.  Now,  the 
knowledge  of  the  reading  of  these  died  out  with  the  decline 
of  Egypt,  and  "  hierogl}'phics  "  became  a  synonym  for  every- 
thing that  is  mysterious. 

21.  It  was  an  interesting  accident  that  led  to  the  unveil- 
Deciphering  of  ing  of  this  mystcry.  During  the  expedition  of 
id.   ^^^°^  ^^  '  the  French  to  Egypt,  under  Napoleon,  at  the 

*  Herodotus,  called  the  father  of  histor}'.  was  bom  at  Halicamassus,  a 
Greek  colony  in  Caria  (Asia  Minor),  B.  c.  484- 


EGYPT.  15 

close  of  the  last  century,  an  engineer  in  digging  the  foun- 
dation of  a  fort  near  the  Rosetta  mouth  of  the  Nile  found 
a  stone  tablet  about  three  feet  long,  on  which  was  an  in- 
scription in  three  different  characters.  This  was  the  famous 
"  Rosetta  stone."  One  of  the  three  texts  (the  lower  one)  was 
Greek,  and  of  course  was  readily  translated ;  the  text  at  the 
head  was  in  the  mystic  hieroglyphic  character ;  the  interme- 
diate text  was  in  a  character  since  called  demotic  {demos,  the 
people),  that  is,  the  writing  of  the  common  people.  This  in- 
scription was  copied  and  circulated  among  scholars,  and  after 
long  and  ingenious  efforts  the  alphabet  of  the  hieroglyphics 
was  made  out ;  so  that  now  these  carvings  are  read  with  ease 
and  certainty,  and  a  new  flood  of  light  has  been  thrown  on 
the  history  of  ancient  Egypt. 

Note  on  the  Rosetta  Stone.  —  The  Greek  text,  when  translated, 
showed  that  the  inscription  was  an  ordinance  of  the  priests  decreeing  cer- 
tain honors  to  Ptol'emy  Epiph'anes  on  the  occasion  of  his  coronation, 
196  B.  c.  (Ptolemy  Epiphanes  was  one  of  a  line  of  Greek  sovereigns 
who  ruled  over  Egypt  from  the  time  of  its  conquest  by  Alexander,  4th 
century,  to  the  ist  century  B.  c.)  It  contains  a  command  that  the  de- 
cree should  be  inscribed  in  the  sacred  letters  (hieroglyphics),  the  letters 
of  the  country  (demotic),  and  Greek  letters, — and  this  for  the  conven- 
ience of  the  mixed  population  of  Egypt  under  its  Greek  rulers.  It  was 
natural  to  conclude  that  the  three  texts  were  the  same  in  substance,  and 
accordingly  earnest  efforts  were  made  to  decipher  the  hieroglyphics  by 
aid  of  the  Greek.  The  first  clew  was  obtained  by  noticing  that  certain 
groups  of  the  hieroglyphic  characters  were  inclosed  in  oval  rings,  and 
that  these  groups  corresponded  in  relative  position  with  certain  proper 
names,  such  as  Ptolemy,  etc.,  in  the  Greek  text.  The  following  line 
presents  a  few  of  the  characters  with  a  group  in  the  oval  ring.  (The 
words  and  groups  of  words  are  read  from  right  to  left.) 


mm\tmmf\^, 


(Ptolemy  eternal  beloved  of  Phtab}       of  Egypt  king  of         statue 


l6  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL   MONARCHIE-^. 

It  was  by  comparison  of  the  group  judged  on  strong  grounds  to  be  the 
name  Ptolemy,  with  another  group  (found  on  another  stone)  supposed 
to  stand  for  the  name  Cleopatra,  that  the  first  great  advance  was  made. 
The  groups  were  as  follows  :  — 


Supposed  to  be  Ptolemy. 


9]     Supposed  to  be  Cleopatra. 


In  Greek  Ptolemy  is  Ptolemaios,  and  Cleopatra  is  Kleopatra.  If  now 
the  hieroglyphic  characters  were /t^/^r-signs,  the  characters  i,  2,  3,  4,  in 
Ptolemaios  should  correspond  respectively  with  5,  7,  4,  2,  in  Kleopatra 
{\ht.  first  letter  in  Ptolemaios  being  i\\t  fifth  in  Kleopatra,  etc.).  In  this 
way  several  letters  were  discovered  ;  by  means  of  other  groups  the  whole 
alphabet  was  made  out,  and  finally  it  was  proved  that  by  this  phonetic 
alphabet  the  characters  and  groups  could  be  resolved  into  the  Coptic 
language  of  Egj'pt,  which  was  already  understood  by  scholars.  It  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  great  work  of  deciphering  was  mainly  effected 
by  the  French  savant,  Champollion. 

22.    The  Eg)'ptians  were  not  Africans,  as  we  understand 
that  term.     They  belonged  to  the  Caucasian 

Egyptian  race.  r-  -n      1 

race.  Still,  they  were  neither  Aryans  nor  Sem- 
ites, and  hence  scholars  call  them  by  a  special  designation, 
namely,  ffamites,  or  Khamites*  They  bore  a  greater  re- 
semblance to  the  ancient  Chaldaeans  than  to  any  other 
Asiatic  people  ;  both  peoples  showed  a  wonderful  building 
instinct,  and  the  Egj^tian  language  seems  to  be  a  sort  of 
primitive  Semitic.  Hence  some  scholars  believe  that 
the  Egyptians  were  originally  immigrants  into  the  Nile 
Valley  from  the  alluvial  plain  at  the  head  of  the  Persian 
Gulf ;  but  if  this  was  the  case,  the  Egyptians  must  have  left 

♦  Khatni  (literally  the  Black  Land)  was  the  native  name  of  Egypt 


EGYPT, 


?7 


Asia  at  a  period  before  there  was  that  sharp  division  of 

Semites  and  Aryans  which  we  find  in  historical  times. 

23.  I'he  origin  of  Egyptian  civilization  is  hidden  in  the 
darkness  of  antiquity ;  but  by  the  aid  of  cer- 
tain   ascertained   facts   we   may    establish   at   Egyp't^s'ws^ 
least  an  approximate  starting-point.     Thus,  it  *°'^^' 

is  known  that  Abraham  visited  Egypt  in  the  20th  century 
B.  c,  and  that  he  then  found  a  flourishing  monarchy  exist- 
ing. Now  at  this  remote  period  the  Great  Pyramids  were 
standing,  and  modern  scholars  are  agreed  that  these  struc- 
tures were  reared  by  kings  of  the  fourth  dynasty,  —  at  a 
time  not  later  than  the  middle  of  the  25th  century  b.  c.  It 
is  evident  from  the  monuments  that  the  civilization  of  Egypt 
at  this  early  date  was  in  many  respects  of  an  advanced 
order,  and  hence  we  must  seek  its  origin  still  farther  back. 
But  how  far  back?  According  to  the  native  historian 
Manetho,  twenty-six  dynasties  of  kings  ruled  the  country 
from  Me'nes,  the  first  king  of  the  first  dynasty,  down  to  the 
conquest  of  Eg}TDt  by  the  Persians  in  the  6th  century  b.  c. 
The  accession  of  Menes  is  placed  by  some  scholars  (as 
Bunsen)  at  3906  ;  others  bring  it  down  as  late  as  2700. 
Later  than  that  date  we  cannot  bring  it,  and  it  would  doubt-  j 
less  be  quite  correct  to  say  that  Eg^'pt  was  a  civilized  coun-l 
try  three  thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era.  ' 

24.  The  history  of   Egypt  from  the  first  dynasty  (2700 
B.  c.)  down  to  the  destruction  of  Egyptian  in-  The  three  pe- 
dependence  by  the  Persians  (525  B.  c.)  maybe   "°<*^* 
divided  into  three  periods,  namely  •  — 

I.  First  Period  (or  period  of  the  old  empire),  from  the 
earliest  times  (say  2700  B.  c.)  to  2080. 

II.  Second  Period  (or  period  of  the  Hyk'sos  rule),  from 
20S0  to  1527. 

III.  Third  Period  (or  period  of  the  new  empire),  from 
1527  to  525. 

25.  The  First  Period  begins  with  the  first  dynasty  (2700 


l8  AN-CIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

B.C.),  and  lasts  for  620  years;  but  it  cannot  be  said  that 
First  Period  authentic  Eg}'ptian  history  commences  until 
characterized.  ^^  fourth  dynast}^,  about  the  middle  of  the 
25th  century  B.  c.  And  indeed  the  epoch  of  the  fourth 
d}Tiasty  is  the  most  notable  during  the  whole  of  this  First 
Period  ;  for  this  was  the  era  of  the  pyramid-builders.  Man- 
stho  ascribes  the  building  of  the  Great  Pyramid  at  Gizeh 
\^ee'ze}i\  near  Mem'phis  to  Suphis  (the  Chdops  of  Herodo- 
tus) ;  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  in  the  interior  of  this 
structure  has  been  found  a  hieroglyphic  royal  name  which 
scholars  agree  in  reading  Shufii*  The  center  of  the  Egyp- 
tian power  was  then  at  Memphis,  in  Lower  Egypt,  where  a 
centralized  monarchy  ruled  the  whole  country;  and  it  is 
apparent  that  at  this  epoch  the  Egyptians  had  made  very 
considerable  progress  in  the  arts  of  life.  Before  the  close 
of  the  First  Period,  however,  Egypt  was  broken  up  into 
really  separate  kingdoms,  the  monarchy  which  ruled  at 
Thebes  in  Upper  Egy'pt  being  the  most  powerful.  This 
left  the  country  in  so  feeble  a  condition  that  it  was  invaded 
by  a  foreign  enemy,  namely  the  Hyksos,  or  Shepherd 
Kings.  And  with  their  conquest  of  Egypt  (2080  B.  c.) 
closes  the  First  Period,  or  Old  Empire. 
26.  The  Second  Period  is  the  era  covered  by  the  rule  o£ 
the  Hyksos,  or  Shepherd  Kings,  and  lasts  for 

Second  Period.      ^        ,     r  •        f      r,  \       rr^i 

about  five  centuries  (2080— 1525  B.C.).  The 
Hyksos  are  believed  to  have  been  a  nomadic  race  from 
either  Syria  or  Arabia.  Entering  Lower  Egypt,  they  de- 
stroyed the  native  monarchy  at  Memphis,  and  afterwards 
conquered  the  Theban  Kingdom  of  Upper  Egypt  The 
complete  establishment  of  their  dominion  was  about  1900 
B.  c,  and  after  this  follows  the  darkest  period  of  Egyptian 
history.t 

*  For  a  representation  of  the  signet-ring  of  Cheops,  or  Shufu,  see  pic« 
hire  of  the  Pyramids  at  the  head  of  the  chapter. 
+  it  was  during  the  rule  of  one  of  the  dynasties  of  Shepherd  Kingt 


EGYPT.  1 9 

27.  The  revival  of  Eg5^tian  independence  by  the  expul- 
sion of  the  "  Shepherds  "  introduces  us  to  the 

Third   Period,  or   that   of   the    New  Empire. 
This  continues  for  about  one  thousand   years  (1525-525 
B.  c.)  ;  but  it  should  be  divided  into  two  ages,  —  the  grand 
age  and  the  age  of  decay. 

28.  The  expulsion  of  the  Hyksos  was  due  to  the  valor 
of  a  Theban  prince,  who  headed  a  great  na- 
tional uprising,  and  who  received  as  his  reward  ^  ^^^^  ^^^' 
the  supreme  authority  over  the  whole  country,  —  a  right 
which  was  inherited  by  his  successors.  Egypt  now  became 
one  great  centralized  power,  with  Thebes  for  its  capital. 
The  most  splendid  period  of  Egyptian  history  was  from  the 
eighteenth  to  the  twentieth  dynasties,  —  about  three  centuries 
(1525 -1200  B.  c.).*  Egyptian  art  attained  its  highest  per- 
fection, and  the  great  temple-palaces  of  Thebes  were  built 
The  Egyptians  even  undertook  foreign  expeditions:  Ethi- 
opia,  Arabia,  and  Syria  were  invaded ;  the  Euphrates  was 
crossed,  and  a  portion  of  Mesopotamia  was  added  to  the 
Egyptian  Empire.  The  chief  of  these  warlike  kings  was 
Ram'eses  II.,  the  Sesos'tris  of  the  Greek  writers. 

29.  From  the  twentieth  dynasty  onwards  Egypt  declined 
for  six  centuries,  till  finally  it  was  conquered 

by  the  Persians  under  Camby'ses,  525  B.C.  ^°  °  '^  ^' 
In  332  Egypt  fell  under  the  dominion  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  who  founded  on  its  shore  the  new  capital  and  literary 
and  commercial  center  called  Alexandria.  One  of  his  gen- 
erals, named  Ptolemy,  received  Egypt  as  his  fragment  of 

that  Abraham  visited  Egypt, — said  to  be  1920  B.  c, — and  they  were 
still  reigning  when  Jacob  and  his  sons  settled  in  the  country,  1 706  B.  C. 
*  At  the  head  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty  is  supposed  to  have  been  that 
Pharaoh  "  who  knew  not  Joseph."  The  exodus  of  the  Israelites  from 
Egypt  is  believed  to  have  taken  place  1320  B.  c,  during  the  reign  of 
Meneptha,  the  fourth  king  of  the  nineteenth  dynasty, — the  Pharaoij 
whose  heart  was  hardened,  and  whq  was  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea. 


20  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

the  divided  empire  of  Alexander,  323  B.  c.  Thenceforward 
for  three  centuries  the  Greek  dynasty  of  the  Ptolemies  ruled 
on  the  banks  of  the  Nile  till  Queen  Cleopa'tra,  the  last  of 
the  line,  being  overcome  by  the  Romans,  died  by  her  own 
hand ;  and  the  venerable  land  became  a  Roman  province 
in  B.  c.  30.     (See  under  the  history  of  Rome,  p.  178.) 

2.    EGYPTIAN   CIVILIZATION. 

30.  In  government,  Egypt  was  a  hereditary  monarchy,  but 

the  kingflv  rule  took  a  peculiar  form,  owing  to 

Government.         ,  T  r   ..i.  •   \i        i 

the  extraordinary  power  of  the  priestly  class. 
Unlike  the  sovereigns  of  the  East,  an  Egyptian  Pharaoh 
was  far  from  being  the  unquestioned  master  of  his  own  ac- 
tions :  his  public  duties  and  his  daily  habits  of  life  were  pre- 
scribed by  religious  rule  ;  so  that  the  priestly  class  formed 
the  "  power  behind  the  throne."  In  another  respect  an 
Egyptian  king  differed  from  an  Eastern  despot :  his  power 
over  the  lives  and  property  of  his  subjects  was  strictly  lim- 
ited by  law,  and  nothing  left  to  caprice  and  passion.  The 
right  to  enact  new  laws,  however,  resided  with  the  sovereign. 

31.  The  station  in  life  of  every  man  was  fixed  by  an  in- 

stitution named  caste.  By  the  system  of  caste, 
each  individual,  instead  of  being  able  to  make 
his  own  place  and  fortune  in  the  world,  had  his  lot  marked 
out  by  his  birth :  he  had  to  be  what  his  father  was.  Of 
these  castes,  or  ranks,  there  were  three  broad  divisions,  — 
the  priests,  the  soldiers,  and  the  lower  orders. 

32.  The  priests  were  the  richest,  most  powerful,  and  most 

influential  order.  It  must  not  be  supposed, 
however,  that  the  modern  word  "  priest  "  gives 
the  true  idea  of  this  caste.  Its  members  were  not  limited 
to  religious  offices ;  they  formed  an  order  comprising  ma7iy 
occupations  and  professions.  They  were  distributed  all  over 
the  country,  possessing  exclusively  the  means  of  reading 


EGYPT.  21 

and  writing,  and  the  whole  stock  of  medical  and  scientific 
knowledge.  Their  ascendency,  both  direct  and  indirect, 
over  the  minds  of  the  people  was  immense,  for  they  pre- 
scribed that  minute  religious  ritual  under  which  the  life  of 
every  Egyptian,  not  excepting  the  king  himself,  was  passed. 

33.  Next  in  importance  to  the  sacerdotal  or  priestly  or 
der  was  tlie  military  caste,  numbering  about  „ 

rr-,  .  r      1  •  11-  Warriors. 

400,000.  To  each  man  of  this  soldier-caste 
was  assigned  a  portion  of  land  (=6^  acres)  free  fr*cm  any 
tax ;  but  he  could  not  engage  in  any  art  or  trade.  The 
lands  of  the  priests  and  soldiers  were  regarded  as  privileged 
property ;  while  the  rest  of  the  soil  was  considered  as  the 
property  of  the  king,  who  rented  it  to  cultivators,  receiving 
from  them  one  fifth  of  the  produce. 

34.  Widely  separated  from  the  priests  and  warriors  were 
the  various  unprivileged  castes.     These  were    , 

Lower  csstcs 

the  husbandmen,  the  artificers,  and  the  herdsmen, 
each  caste  including  many  different  crafts  and  occupations. 
The  lowest  caste  was  that  of  the  herdsmen,  and  the  low- 
est members  of  this  caste  were  the  swineherds,  who  were 
not  permitted  to  enter  the  temples.  All  the  castes  below 
the  priests  and  soldiers  agreed,  however,  in  this,  that  they 
had  no  political  rights,  and  could  not  hold  land. 

35.  The  effect  of  the  caste-system  was  evil.     It  was  one 
of  the  main  causes  of  the  decline  of  the  nation. 

It  discouraged  progress  and  improvement ;  it  ^*^  °  *^^*  *' 
crushed  out  personal  ambition  ;  it  produced  dull  uniformity. 

36.  The  population  of  ancient  Egypt  is  known  to  have 
been  at  least  five  millions,  and  it  may  have 

been  much  more.  As  food  was  cheap  and  °^" 
abundant,  owing  to  its  being  easily  obtained,  the  race  in- 
creased very  rapidly ;  hence  there  was  a  large  part  of  the 
people  whose  labor  could  be  used  in  any  way  the  rulers 
wished.  This  fact  accounts  for  the  ease  with  which  great 
public  works  —  vv'orks  that,  like  the  pyramids,  were  useless 


t2 


ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 


Cities. 


but  yet  required  the  labor  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men 
^or  years  —  were  constructed, 

37.  Herodotus  relates  that  Eg)'pt  contained  20,000  in- 
habited towns.  The  two  most  famous  cities 
were    Memphis    and   Thebes.     Memphis   was 

ibout  twelve  miles  above  the  apex  of  the  Delta.  Scarcely 
a  vestige  of  the  place  now  remains  ;  but  its  great  burial 
place  at  Gizeh  is  still  seen.  Here  are  the  great  Pyramids, 
the  colossal  Sphinx,  and  miles  on  miles  of  rock-hewn 
tombs.  Thebes  was  the  metropolis  of  Upper  Egypt,  and 
the  most  splendid  city  of  the  Nile.  The  traveler  who  now 
Views  its  ruins  at  Kar'nak  and  Lux'or  beholds  pillared 
temples  and  statues  of  a  size  so  colossal  as  to  seem  like 
'Jie  work  of  giant  hands. 

38.  In  some  branches  of  art,  especially  in  architecture, 
the  Eg}'ptians  made  great  advances.  The  race 
seems  indeed  to  have  had  a  wonderful  buiiu- 

Ing  instinct.     The  dis-  _.- —     -  -.  — . 


Architecture. 


tinguishing  feature  of 
Egyptian  architecture  is 
its  vastness  and  sub- 
limit}'. Avenues  of 
colossal  sphinxes  and 
lines  of  obelisks  led 
to  stupendous  palaces 
and  temples,  elaborate- 
ly sculptured,  and  con- 
taining halls  of  solemn 
and  gloomy  grandeur, 
in  which  our  largest 
cathedrals  might  stand. 
39.  The  pyramids 
were     de- 

Pyramids.  .  , 

signed    as 
the  sepulchers  of  kings. 


Rums  OF  KasnaK 


EGYPT.  23 

The  three  great  pyramids  of  Gizeh  are  the  most  celebrated ; 
but  as  many  as  seventy  st;  nd  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Nile, 
just  beyond  the  cultivated  ground,  in  the  vicinity  of  Mem- 
phis. The  largest  of  the  three  great  pyramids  is  450  feet 
high;  it  has  a  square  base  of  764  feet,  and  it  covers  an 
area  of  more  than  13  acres,  —  twice  the  extent  of  any  other 
building  in  the  world.  The  second  pyramid  is  but  little 
less ;  the  third  about  half  the  size.  In  the  construction  of 
these  works  no  degree  of  labor  for  any  length  of  time  seems 
to  have  intimidated  the  Egyptians.  The  huge  blocks  of 
stone,  sometimes  weighing  1600  tons  each,  were  dragged 
for  hundreds  of  miles  on  sledges ;  in  one  case  which  is 
known,  2000  men  were  employed  three  years  in  bringing 
a  single  stone  from  the  quarry  to  the  structure  in  which  it 
was  to  be  placed. 

40.  In  sculpture  the  Egyptian  artists  aimed  at  the  colos- 
sal, and  never  attained  the  beautiful.     A  re- 

,     ,  ,  ...  -  T-  •  1  •        Sculpture. 

markable  peculiarity  of  Egyptian  sculpture  is, 
that,  though  the  earliest  monuments  reveal  a  considerable 
degree  of  artistic  skill,  this  skill  never  advanced.  The  ex- 
planation of  this  is  found  in  the  connection  of  Egyptian  art 
with  Egyptian  religion.  The  artists  were  fettered  by  strict 
rules,  and  were  forbidden  to  indulge  their  inventive  genius. 

41.  Egyptian  painting  did  not  reach  true  excellence.    The 
best  specimens,  as  seen  in  the  frescos  in  the   ^  .    . 
interiors  of  the  sepulchers,  display  brilliancy 

of  coloring,  and  frequently  great  spirit  and  vivacity;  but 
the  drawing  is  very  inaccurate,  displaying  no  observance  of 
perspective  or  even  the  simplest  laws  of  vision.  It  should 
oe  stated  that  in  this  branch  of  art,  too,  religion  interfered  to 
limit  the  taste  and  fancy  of  the  painter,  certain  colors  being 
positively  prescribed  in  representing  the  bodies  and  draper- 
ies of  the  gods. 

42.  The  art  of  writing  was  practiced  more  extensively  by 
^he  Egj'^ptians   than   by   any  contemporary  nation.       The 


24  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

p)Tamids  and  monuments  of  even  the  earliest  period  bear 
inscriptions  :  and  it  was  the  custom  to  mark 

Art  of  Writing.  u-      /         J         *•    l  f 

every  object  and  article  of  use  or  ornament. 
For  manuscripts  an  excellent  writing  material  was  made 
from  the  leaves  of  the.  pa-py' ms  plant,  —  whence  our  word 
''paper."  Fragments  of  manuscripts  on  papyrus  exist  of 
the  earliest  Theban  dynasties,  —  2000  b.  c. 

43.  The  translation  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Egyptians 

shows  that  their  religion  embodied  some  grand 

Religion.  .  °         ,  ^  r    ^      ■ 

conceptions,  —  among  others  that  of  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  and  that  of  the  existence  of  an  invisible 
God.  The  several  attributes  and  manifestations  of  the 
Deity  were,  however,  represented  in  various  forms,  and, 
though  by  the  priests  and  other  learned  men  these  were 
regarded  as  mere  symbols,  they  became  to  the  ignorant 
separate  divinities  and  objects  of  worship.  In  this  way 
the  religious  system  of  the  Egyptians  was  very  complicated, 
the  number  of  gods  being  so  great  that  every  day  of  the 
year  was  consecrated  to  one.  The  worship  of  Osi'ris  and 
I'sis  was  that  most  generally  diffused. 

44.  One  of  the  most  striking  peculiarities  of  the  Egyp- 
Worship  of       tian   religion  was  the  honor  paid   to  brutes. 

animals.  'j-j^g  ^^^^  ^j^g   ^^^.^  .j^g   jl^j^^  ^^^   ^j^g   hzwVi  Were 

held  in  reverence  throughout  the  whole  land,  —  other  ani- 
mals were  worshiped  only  in  special  nomes^  or  districts. 
The  highest  honors  were  paid  to  the  bull  Apis  at  Mem- 
phis, and  to  the  calf  Mne'vis  at  Heliop'olis.  The  sacred 
animals  were  kept  in  the  temples,  ministered  to  with  the 
greatest  _  care,  and  when  they  died  they  were  embalmed. 
If  a  person  killed  an  ibis  or  a  hawk,  whether  intention- 
ally or  unintentionally,  he  was  immediately  put  to  death. 
Animal  worship  received  its  extraordinary  extension  in 
Egypt  owing  to  the  overwhelming  influence  of  the  priestly 
caste.  Ultimately  it  was  a  main  cause  of  the  mental  de- 
basement of  the  people. 


EGYPT. 


25 


Embalming. 


45.    The  practice  of  embalming  dead  bodies  was  con- 
nected with  the  pecuHar  rehgious  ideas  of  the 
Egyptians.     The  original  reason  of  embalming 

was  the  belief  that  at  the  day  of 
judgment  the  soul  would  reunite 
with  the  body :  hence  the  care 
taken  to  preserve  the  corpse  from 
corruption,  and  hence  also  the 
great  pains  taken  to  ornament 
the  interiors  of  their  stone-hewn 
sepulchers,  since,  even  while  lying 
in  the  tomb,  the  body  was  be- 
lieved to  be  not  wholly  uncon- 
scious. 

46,  The  Eg}^ptians  were  adepts 
in  the  finer  kinds  of  Arts  and  man- 
mechanical  art.  In  "f^^tures. 
the  polishing  and  engraving  of 
precious  stones,  in  glass  manu- 
facture, porcelain-making,  and  in 
embalming  and  dyeing,  they  had  attained  great  skill.  They 
raised  flax,  out  of  which  they  made  fine  linen  (linen  being 
their  usual  article  of  dress)  ;  they  worked  in  metals  from 
the  earliest  recorded  period;  their  walls  and  ceilings  they 
painted  in  beautiful  patterns,  which  we  still  imitate  ;  and  in 
the  production  of  articles  of  use  and  ornament  they  had 
reached  a  perfection  that  modern  art  has  not  been  able 
to  surpass. 

47.  It  is  known  that  the  Eg^'ptians  had  some  acquaint- 
ance with  certain  sciences,  especially  geome- 
try, arithmetic,  astronomy,  and  medicine.  But 
their  knowledge  can  hardly  be  called  science,  in  the  modern 
sense :  they  knew  truths  more  as  matters  of  fact  and  obser- 
vation than  as  determined  by  law.  For  example,  the  Greek 
philosopher  Pythag'oras  learned  from  the  Egj'ptian  priests 


Egyptian  Mummy. 


Science. 


26 


ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 


ikv^fact  that  "  the  square  of  the  hypothenuse  is  equal  to  the 
sum  of  the  squares  of  the  two  other  sides  "  ;  but  it  was  the 
Greek  mathematician  himself  who  discovered  the  demotistra- 
tion  of  this  principle.  In  accuracy  of  astronomical  obser- 
vations the  Egyptians  were  surpassed  by  the  Chaldasans. 
Their  geometry  was  little  more  than  land-surveying. 

48.   The  great  characteristic  of  Egyptian  institutions  was 

their  taichangeableness.     This  stationary  char-  // 

Summing  up.  .  .      _,  .  •II 

acter  is  seen  in  Egyptian  government,  society^/' 
religion,  art,  and  learning,     Egypt  herself  was  a  inutmny.    i[ 

. / 


CHRONOLOGIC      SUMMARY. 


First  Period, 
or 
Old  Empire. 

Second  Period, 

or 
Middle  Empire. 

Third  Period, 

or 
New  Empire. 


Later  events. 


B.  c. 

Beginning  of  Egyptian  history  with  first  djmasty 

of  Manetho 2700 

Fourth  dynasty,  or  period  of  the  Pyramid-build- 
ers          2450 

Close  of  the  Old  Empire  by  the  Hyksos  inva- 
sion      .  2080 

Hyksos  conquest  of  Ix)wer  Egypt .         .         .  2080 

Complete  subjugation  of  the  whole  country  .     1900 

Abraham's  visit  to  Egypt       ....  1920 

Settlement  in  Egj'pt  of  Jacob  and  his  sons  .     1706 

Expulsion  of  the  Hyksos        ....  1525 

'  Revival  of  Egyptian  independence  under  a  The- 

ban  dynasty 1525 

Three  most  brilliant  centuries  of  Egyptian  his- 
tory        1500- 1200 

Exodus  of  the  Israelites  ....         132c 

Egypt  conquered  by  the  Persians  under  Cam- 

byses 5^5 

'Eg)rpt  conquered  by  the  Greeks  under  Alex- 
ander     332 

Beginning  of  the  rule  of  the  Ptolemies  (or  Greek 
kings  of  Eg>'pt)  after  the  partition  of  Alex- 
ander's Empire 3^3 

Egypt  becomes   a   Roman   province  after  the 

death  of  Cleopatra 30 


ASSYRIANS  AND  BABYLONIANS. 


27 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   ASSYRIANS    AND    BABYLONIANS. 

I.    INTRODUCTION. 

49.  To  Egypt  has  been  accorded  the  precedence  of 
possessing:  the  earliest  secular  historic  records,   Antiquity  of 

t^  o  Chaldaean  civ- 

but  an  actual  antiquity  hardly  later  than  that   iiization. 

of  Egypt  may 
be  claimed  for 
the  civilization 
which  arose  in 
the  Tigro  -  Eu- 
phrates basin. 
There  is  a  posi- 
tive date  in 
Chaldaean  his- 
tory going  back 
to  the  23d  cen- 
tury B.  c.  (2234 
B.  c.  See  H  57, 
p.  30),  while 
authentic  Egyp- 
tian history  an- 
tedates this   by 

only  two  centuries  (epoch  of  the  Pyramid-builders,  fourth 

dynasty,  b.  c.  2450). 

MAP    STUDY. 

See  map  of  Ancient  Oriental  Monarchies,  opposite  p.  8. 

I.  In  what  country  do  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates  rise?  2.  Where 
is  Mount  Ararat?  3.  What  mountain  chain  between  the  Tigro-Euphrates 
basin  and  the  plateau  of  Media  and  Persia  ?  4.  Describe  the  course  of 
the  Tigris.  5.  Of  the  Euphrates.  6.  Where  do  they  unite?  7.  Into 
what  gulf  do  they  empty  ?     8.  Locate  Nineveh  ;  Babylon  ;  Ur. 


Chald.ean  Temple. 


28  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL   MONARCHIES. 

50.  If,  however,  leaving  profane  records  we  take  the  guid- 
The  Scripture  ance  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  this  region  will 
record,  claim  an  even  greater  antiquity.  The  Bible 
places  the  commencement  of  the  history  of  mankind  in  the 
Tigro-Euphrates  basin,  "  And  it  came  to  pass,"  says  the 
Book  of  Genesis,  "  as  they  journeyed  from  the  east,  that  they 
tound  a  plain  in  the  land  of  Shi'nar  ;*  and  they  dwelt  there." 
There  the  Scriptures  place  the  building  of  Babel,  the  first 
great  city  founded  after  the  Deluge,  and  there  occurred  the 
confusion  of  tongues  and  the  dispersion  of  races.  It  is  an 
interesting  fact  that  the  record  of  this  event  is  preserved  in 
the  Babylonian  tradition,  as  well  as  in  the  Mosaic  narra- 
tive. 

51.  Two  great  rivers,  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates,  take 
Sketch  of  geog- their  rise  in  the  highlands  of  Armenia,  and 
raphy.  unite  near  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  which 
receives  their  waters  after  the  Euphrates  has  flowed  about 
1780  miles  and  the  Tigris  about  1150.  The  valleys  of 
these  streams  interpose  as  a  belt  of  fertility  in  the  midst  of 
the  great  desert  zone  that  extends  from  the  western  coast 
of  Africa  almost  to  the  northeastern  shores  of  Asia. 

52.  The  Tigro-Euphrates  basin  comprises  a  number  of 
Geographical  territorial  and  political  divisions  which  it  is 
divisions.  j^p^  always  easy  to  mark  by  definite  lines.  The 
region  between  the  tAvo  great  rivers  was  called  by  the  Greeks 
Mesopotamia,  and  by  the  Hebrews  Shinar.  Chaldaea  was 
the  name  applied  to  the  region  south  of  the  lower  course  of 
the  Euphrates,  and  to  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  These 
we  may  call  territorial  divisions  ;  but  Babylonia,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  a  political  division  which  took  in  the  alluvial 
plain  between  the  lower  waters  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphra- 
tes (Southern  Mesopotamia  or  Shinar),  and  also  Chaldaea 
southw^ard  to  the  Arabian  desert.     Again,  the  territorial  di- 

*  Shinar,  that  is,  Mesopotamia.  See  Map  of  Ancient  Oriental  Mon* 
archies,  opposite  p.  8. 


ASSYRIA  ATS  AND  BABYLONIANS  29 


vision  of  Assyria  Proper  lay  east  of  the  Tigris  and  west  of 
the  Zagros  Mountains,  and  must  not  be  confounded  witli 
Assyria  as  a  political  power,  that  is,  the  Assyrian  Empire, 
which  varied  in  extent,  and  the  name  of  which  was  often 
applied  to  the  whole  territory  between  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  and  the  table-land  of  Media  and  Persia.  Susiana  lay 
along  the  Tigris,  southeast  of  Assyria,  and  was  a  territorial, 
not  a  national,  designation. 

53.  The   Tigro-Euphrates  basin  was  the  seat  of  three 
successive  kingdoms: — i.  The  early  Babylo-   The  three  na- 
nian,  or  Chaldasan,  Kingdom;  2.  The  Assyrian  ^'°"^' 
Empire  ;  3.  The  later  Babylonian  Kingdom. 

54.  As  in  the  case  of  Egypt,  our  knowledge  of  the  an' 
cient  history  of  these  countries  has  been  very   Modem  re- 
greatly    enlarged    through    modern    research.    ^^^'■'=^- 

By  the  industry  of  explorers,  beginning  with  Layard  thirty 
years  ago,  Nineveh  and  Babylon  and  the  buried  cities  of 
the  plain  have  been  unearthed ;  their  palaces  and  temples 
have  been  exposed  to  view ;  the  mysterious  inscriptions 
in  the  wedge-shaped  or  cn-ne'i-form  character,  which  were 
found  covering  the  slabs  that  lined  the  interiors  of  the 
palaces  and  temples,  have,  by  a  triumph  of  modern  schol- 
arship, been  translated  ;  and  thus  a  flood  of  light  has  been 
cast  on  the  darkness  of  the  primeval  world. 

a.    EARLY   BABYLONIAN,   OR  CHALDiEAN,   KINGDOM. 

55.  The  earliest  of  the  three  kingdoms  was  the  Chaldaean, 
or  Early  Babylonian,  which  arose  in  the  lower  Physical  de-  ' 
part  of  the  rich  alluvial  plain  lying  above  the  scription. 
Persian  Gulf.  Chaldsea  by  its  natural  fertility  was  calcu- 
lated to  be  one  of  the  first  seats  of  human  society.  It 
is  the  only  country  in  which  wheat  is  known  to  be  indi- 
genous. Other  cereals  grew  plentifully;  groves  of  the 
magnificent  date-palm  fringed  the  banks  of  the  rivers ;  the 


30  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 


vine  and  other  fruits  abounded,  while  the  rivers   teemed 
with  fish. 

56.  Authentic  history  in  the  Tigro-Euphrates  basin,  as 
Earliest  his-  in  the  Nile  Valley,  commences  only  with  the 
*°''y"  formation  in  Chaldaea  and  Babylonia  of  one 
nnited  kingdom,  including  previously  disunited  tribes  under 
its  authority.  The  Hebrew  records  name  Nimrod,  the  son 
of  Cush,  as  the  founder  of  this  kingdom  ;  and  the  Book  of 
Genesis  also  reveals  to  us  the  existence  of  a  Tetrapolis,  or 
confederation  of  four  cities,  that  ruled  over  the  Empire 
established  by  Nimrod ;  namely,  i.  Babylon;  2.  E'rech ;  3. 
Ac'cad  ;  4.  Cal'neh,  —  all  of  which  places  have  been  iden- 
tified in  modern  times. 

57.  The  primitive  Chaldeans  practiced  the  worship  of  the 

heavenly  bodies.  Their  religion,  combined 
with  the  facilities  afforded  by  their  climate 
and  their  level  horizon,  led  them  from  the  earliest  times  to 
the  study  of  astronomy,  in  which  they  made  very  consider- 
able progress.  When  Alexander  the  Great  took  possession 
of  Babylon,  331  b.  c,  he  found  a  series  of  astronomical  ob- 
servations taken  by  the  Chaldaeans  for  an  unbroken  period 
of  1903  years.  These  observations  would  therefore  date 
from  2234  B.  c.  (331  -H  1903). 

58.  The  Chaldeans  showed  from  the  first  an  architect- 

ural tendency.  The  attempt  to  build  a  towers 
"which  should  reach  to  heaven,"  made  here 
(Genesis  xi.  4),  was  in  accordance  with  the  general  spirit 
of  the  people.  Out  of  such  simple  and  rude  material  as 
brick  and  bitumen  vast  edifices,  the  ruins  of  which  have  re- 
cently been  found,  were  constructed,  pyramidal  in  design, 
but  built  in  steps  or  stages  of  considerable  altitude. 

59.  Other  arts  also  flourished.    Letters  in  the  cuneiform, 

or  wedge-shaped,  characters  were  in  use ;  and 
the  baked  bricks  employed  by  the  royal  build- 
ers had  commonly  a  legend  stamped  in  their  center.     Gems 


ASSYRIANS  AND  BABYLONIANS.  31 

were  cut,  polished,  and  engraved.     Metals  of  many  kinds 
were  worked  and  fashioned  into  arms,  ornaments,  and  im- 


l^CJ^^H^fflKH^ 


■P4^^fS-iii-'-^ 


Babylonian  Brick. 

plements.  Delicate  fabrics  were  manufactured  by  their 
looms.  Commerce  was  carried  on  with  other  countries, 
and  the  "  ships  of  Ur "  traded  along  the  shores  of  the 
Persian  Gulf. 

60.  The  site  of  Ur  is  believed  to  have  been  identified 
with  certain  mounds  and  ruins  on  the  banks  of 

the  lower  Euphrates.  This  place  is  interesting 
in  connection  with  Abraham,  who  was  born  at  "  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees."  The  period  of  Abraham  is  usually  put  at  about 
two  thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era.  The  belief  is 
that  Chaldaea  contained  at  this  time  a  Semitic  population 
which  professed  a  pure  form  of  religion,  in  the  midst  of  the 
idolatrous  Chaldasans  ;  and  hence  Abraham,  who  was  a 
Semite,  emigrated  with  his  family  and  flocks  and  herds  to 
the  land  of  Canaan. 

61.  The  Chaldasan  monarchy  continued  for  several  cen- 
turies ;  but  about  the  13th  century  b.  c.  it  took  Decline  of 

a  secondary  position,  and  the  newly  arisen  As-  Chaidaea. 
S3T:ian  nation  became  the  dominant  power  of  Mesopotamia. 


32  ANCIENT  OB^ENTAL   MONARCHIES. 


3.    ASSYRIA. 


62.  The  Assyrians  are  believed  to  have  been  a  Semitic 

population  who  ori<rinally  lived  in  Chaldaea,  but 

Early  history.     \  ^  ,'=.,•'  ,  ,  ' 

who  at  an  early  period  removed  to  the  upper 
course  of  the  Tigris.  Here  there  grew  ujd  a  kingdom  which 
at  first  was  subject  to  the  Chaldcean  ruler  at  Babylon,  but 
which  finally,  about  1250  B.C.,  became  independent.  As- 
syria advanced  rapidly  and  completely  overshadowed  Baby- 
lonia ;  and  for  six  centuries,  down  to  the  fall  of  Nineveh, 
625  E.  c,  was  the  great  imperial  power  of  Western  Asia. 

63.  The  six  centuries  of  Assyrian  history  may  be  divid- 
Two  periods  ed  into  two  periods.  The  first  period  is  from 
of  Assyria.  ^^  independence  of  Assyria  (about  1250  B.  c.) 
to  the  foundation  of  the  New  Assyrian  Empire  under 
Tig'lath-pi-le'ser  II.,  745  B.  c. ;  the  second  is  from  the  ac- 
cession of  Tiglath-pileser  II.  to  the  fall  of  Nineveh,  625  b.  c 


ASSYRIANS  AND  BABYLONIANS.  33 


64.  Among  the  famous  monarchs  of  the  first  period  were 
riglath-pileser  I.   (11 30  B.C.),    a   conquering: 

.*'  ,,,•,-        ,    /,  ...     ^,    Chief  events. 

prince,  and  Asshur-idanni-pal  (the  original  of 
Sardanapalus,  but  wholly  unlike  that  mythic  king),  to  whose 
time  belong  the  winged  bulls  and  lions  and  the  sculptured 
palace-walls  which  have  been  dug  from  the  ruins  of  Calah. 
Towards  the  end  of  this  period  Nabonas'sar,  the  ruler  of 
Babylon,  not  only  made  himself  independent,  but  gained  a 
certain  supremacy  over  Assyria.  The  date  of  this  event,  747 
B.  c,  is  known  as  the  "  era  of  Nabonassar."  In  745  B.  c, 
however,  the  authority  of  Assyria  was  revived  by  Tiglath- 
pileser  IL,  with  whose  accession  begins  the  second  period 
of  Assyrian  history.  This  monarch  was  a  great  conqueror, 
as  were  also  his  successors,  Sargon  and  Shalmaneser  IV.  ; 
but  the  most  splendid  reign  during  tlie  second  period  was  that 
of  Sennach'erib  (705- 68 1  b.  c),  who  made  extensive  con- 
quests, and  was  the  builder  of  magnificent  structures  at  Nine- 
veh.   This  second  period  was  the  golden  age  of  Assyrian  art. 

65.  The  countries  included  within  the  limits  of  Assyria, 
at  the  height  of  its  glory,  were  Babylonia  (cov-  Extent  of  the 
ering  all  the  territory  of  the  early  Chaldaean  ^n^pire. 
Kingdom),  Mesopotamia,  Media,  Syria,  Phoenicia,  a  large 
part  of  Palestine,  Arabia,  and  Egypt.  Under  the  Assyrian 
rule  the  subject  states  were  generally  allowed  to  retain  their 
own  government,  but  their  kings  were  compelled  to  do  hom- 
age and  pay  tribute  to  the  Assyrian  monarch  as  the  "  king 
of  kings." 

66.  The  vast  empire  of  Assyria  was  never  more  than  a 
loosely  tied  bundle  of  oetty  states.     The  rec- 

1        r    I       1  •  '      1  11  11-       Cause  of  decay. 

ords  of  the  kings,  engraved  on  slabs  and  cylin- 
ders, reveal  a  constant  succession  of  revolts,  wars,  subjuga- 
tions, and  deportations  of  whole  populations.     Thus  Assyria 
had  no  inherent  strength,  and  after  culminating  in  the  7th 
century  it  began  rapidly  to  fall  in  pieces. 

67.  In  the  7  th  century  Babylon  made  a  successful  rebel* 

2*  c 


34 


ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 


Closing  events. 


lion ;  and  when  the  Median  conqueror  Cyax'ares  led  a  force 
from  beyond  the  Zagros  chain  to  attack  As- 
syria, he  was  joined  by  the  Babylonians  under 
Nabopolas'sar,  the  Assyrians  were  overthrown,  Nineveh  was 
captured,  its  splendid  palaces  and  temples  were  given  to  the 
flames,  and  Assyria  fell,  never  to  rise  again,  625  b.  c. 

68.  Nineveh  was  rather  an  assemblage  of  fortified  pal- 
Nineveh  de-  aces  and  temples,  interspersed  with  clusters  of 
scribed.  meaner  dwellings  built  of  sun-dried  bricks,  than 
what  is  now  understood  by  a  cit}\  For  about  sixty  miles 
mounds  of  ruins  dot  the  banks  of  the  Tigris  :  these  doubtless 
formed  part  of  Nineveh ;  but  the  heart  of  the  vanished  city 
seems  to  be  represented  by  the  mounds  that  are  opposite 
the  modern  town  of  Mosul.  So  complete  was  its  demolition, 
that  even  in  the  4th  century  b.  c,  —  time  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  —  almost  every  vestige  of  it  had  disappeared. 

69.  Summing  up  what  the  Assyrian  people  contributed 
Assyrian  civi-  to  civilization,  we  find  that  their  genius  took 
hzation.  mainly  the  form  of  art  and  manufactures.  In 
letters    and    in   science 


they  were  behind  both 
the  Chaldaeans  and  the 
Eg}'-ptians.  Architec- 
ture was  their  chief 
glory,  and  the  palaces 
of  Nineveh  must  have 
been  of  extraordinary 
splendor.  Their  sculp- 
ture, too,  though  never 
attaining  Grecian  purity  f^t^^ 
and  perfection,  was  far 
in  advance  of  Egyptian 
stiffness  and  conven- 
tionalism :  it  displays  a 
vvonaerful  grandeur,  dignity,  boldness,  and  strength. 


ASSYRIANS  AND  BABYLONIANS.  35 

70.  In  the  useful  and  mechanical  arts,  they  had  reached 
great  skill.  They  not  only  had  transparent 
glass,  but  even  lenses ;  they  were  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  principle  of  the  arch,  and  constructed 
tunnels,  aqueducts,  and  drains ;  they  knew  the  use  of  the 
pulley,  the  lever,  and  the  roller ;  they  understood  the  arts  of 
inlaying,  enameling,  and  overlaying  with  metals  ;  they  cut 
gems  with  the  greatest  skill  and  finish,  and  in  the  ordinary 
arts  of  life  they  were,  twenty-five  centuries  ago,  nearly  on 
a  par  with  the  boasted  achievements  of  the  moderns. 


4.     LATER   BABYLONIAN   KINGDOM. 

71.  During  the  six  centuries  of  Assyrian  dominion,— 
i2t;o  to  62';   B.C.,  —  Babylon  had  been  par-   Political  situ- 

.    f,  ,.  ,       ,  ,  •  ^,1,  ation  of  Baby- 

tially  eclipsed ;  but  the  ancient  Chaldaean  or  ion. 
Babylonian  nation  never  entirely  lost  its  spirit  of  indepen- 
dence. When  Assyria  was  overthrown  by  the  Medes,  625 
B.  c,  Nabopolassar,  who  had  aided  the  Medes,  received  as 
his  share  of  the  spoil  the  undisputed  possession  of  Baby- 
lonia. 

72.  This  later  Babylonian  Kingdom  lasted  for  87  years 
(625-538  B.C.),  till  overthrown  by  the  new  Extent  of  his- 
conquering  power  of  Persia.  '^°''y- 

73.  Nabopolassar,  the  first  monarch  of  the  new  Babylo- 
nian Kingdom,  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Nebu-  Nebuchadnez- 
chadnez'zar,  under  whom  the  empire  reached   ^^^' 

its  height  of  glory.  Having  in  early  life  proved  the  sharp- 
ness of  his  sword  upon  Egypt,  this  king,  during  his  long 
reign  of  forty-three  years,  undertook  other  wars,  in  which 
the  siege  of  Tyre  and  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  stand  out  as 
conspicuous  achievements.  Besides  his  conquests,  Nebu- 
chadnezzar distinguished  himself  by  almost  entirely  rebuild- 
ing the  city  of  Babylon.  With  his  "  unbounded  command 
of  naked  human  strength,"   he   applied   himself   to   those 


36  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL   MONARCHIES. 

works  which  afterwards  called  forth  his  celebrated  boast: 
"  Is  not  this  Great  Babylon,  that  I  have  built  for  the  house 
of  the  Kingdom,  by  the  might  of  ray  power,  and  for  the 
honor  of  my  majesty?  " 

74.  Babylon   was  a  square  city  at  least  five   times  as 

large  as  London,  and  traversed  diagonally  by 
*  ^  °"*  the  Euphrates.     Its  walls  —  338  feet  high  and 

85  feet  thick  —  were  studded  with  lowers  and  pierced  with 
brazen  gates.  Its  palaces  and  its  hanging  gardens  —  a 
system  of  terraces  in  imitation  of  mountain  scenery,  formed 
to  please  Nebuchadnezzar's  Median  queen  —  were  among 
the  wonders  of  the  world. 

75.  Nebuchadnezzar   was    followed   by  four    kings,  the 

last  of  whom  was    Nabona'dius.     This  mon- 
arch had  made  his  son  Belshaz'zar  the  partner 
I   of  his  throne,  and  it  is  the  name  of  Belshazzar  that  appears 
I    in  the  Scriptures  in  connection  with  the  capture  of  Babylon. 

76.  At  this  time  a  new  power  appeared  from  beyond  the 
Persian  con-  Zagros  Mountains.  This  power  was  the  con- 
1"^®*-  quering  army  of  the  newly  risen  dominion  of 
Persia.  Under  the  command  of  the  great  Cyrus  the  Per- 
sians had  gained  ascendency  over  the  Medes  and  begun 
a  career  of  conquest.  Appearing  in  Mesopotamia,  they 
laid  siege  to  Babylon,  which  was  entered  by  diverting  the 
course  of  the  Euphrates,  538  b.  c.  Herodotus  states  that 
Babylon  was  taken  "  amid  revelries,"  —  thus  confirming 
the  account  given  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  circumstances  of 
the  capture.  The  fearful  handwriting  on  the  palace  wall, 
and  the  terrible  denunciation  of  the  prophet,  form  a  scene 
too  deeply  impressed  on  our  memories  to  need  repetition 
here. 

77.  In  the  fall  of  Babylonia  the  last  of  the  three  Meso- 

potamian  kingdoms  disappears  from  the  stage 

Later  history.     ^,   ,  .   ,  ^  j   v!      .u      r.        •  ■      X. 

of  history.     Conquered  by  the  Persians  m  the 
6th  century,  Assyria  and  Babylonia  became,  two  centuries 


ASSYRIANS  AND  BABYLONIANS.  37 

later,  a  part  of  the  vast  possessions  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
Alexander  designed  Babylon  to  be  the  capital  of  his  empire, 
and  was  preparing  to  restore  its  ancient  splendor  when  he 
was  prematurely  cut  oif.  Thenceforth  its  decay  was  rapid, 
and  it  is  now  a  vast  heap  of  ruins,  tenanted  only  by  the 
beasts  and  birds  that  love  to  haunt  solitary  places. 

'78.   The  Babylonians  were  a  mixed  race,  partly  Hamites 
and  partly  Semites,  and  in  some  of  their  traits   Babylonian 
they  differed  from  the  Assyrians.     Their  "  wis-  "="'^"''^- 
dom  and  learning  "  are  celebrated  both  by  the  Jewish  writers 
and  by  the  Greek  historians.     They  were  careful  observers  ^ 
of  astronomical  phenomena,  and  they  had  made  considerable    ' 
advance  in  mathematics.     In  science  the  Greeks  confessed 
themselves  the  disciples  of  Babylonian  teachers. 

79.  They  were  eminently  a  commercial  people :  their 
land  was  a  "  land  of  traffic  "  and  their  city  a 
"  city  of  merchants."  The  looms  of  Babylon 
were  famous  for  the  production  of  textile  fabrics,  especially 
carpets  and  muslins  ;  and  these  were  exchanged  for  the 
frankincense  of  Arabia,  for  the  pearls  and  gems  of  India, 
for  tin  and  copper  from  Phoenicia,  and  for  the  fine  wool, 
lapis  lazuli,  silk,  gold,  and  ivory  of  the  far  East. 


CHRONOLOGIC     SUMMARY. 

B.C. 

First  authentic  date  in  Chaldaean  history 2234 

Chaldaean  subjection  and  Assyrian  independence      .         .         .  1250 

Age  of  Tiglath-pileser  1 1 130 

Era  of  Nabonassar 747 

Assyrian  revival  under  Tiglath-pileser  II 745 

Overthrovir  of  Assyria  by  the  Medes  under  Cyaxares        .         .  625 

Later  Babylonian  kingdom  established 625 

Accession  of  Nebuchadnezzar    .....••  604 

Capture  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus        •..*.,•  538 


^S  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 


CHAPTER     IV. 
THE    HEBREWS. 

80.  Jewish  histon*  is  the  subject  of  particular  study  in 
Sacred  his-  Connection  with  the  Scriptures.  Hence  no 
"''^'  detailed  account  of  this  people  is  required  in 
this  work.  All  that  need  be  done  is  to  indicate  the  few 
general  points  of  contact  with  the  world's  histor}-. 

81.  The  Hebrews  were  a  pure  Semitic  race,  and  hence 

were  kinsmen  of  the  Phoenicians,  Arabs,  and 
Assyrians.     According  to  the  Scriptures,   the 
father  of  this  people  was  Abraham,  who  in  the  20th  cen- 
tury B.  c.  removed  from  the  plains  of  Mesopotamia  to  Ca- 
naan, the  "  promised  land.'' 

82.  The  history  of  Abraham,  and  of  his  sons  and  grand- 
Period  of  jew-  sons,  is  simply  the  stor}- of  a  nomad  family; 
ish  history.        ^^^  j^  j^  j^Qj.  j-j^  ^g  jjj^^g  q£  ^j^g  departure  of 

the  children  of  Israel  from  Eg}-pt  that  Jewish  national  his- 
tor}' begins.  This  event  is  supposed  to  have  taken  place  in 
1320.  The  inter\-al  be^.veen  that  event  and  the  absorption 
of  Judcea  in  the  Roman  Empire  may  be  divided  into  four 
periods  :  — 

I.  From  the  Exodus  to  the  establishment  of  the  mon- 
archy under  Saul,  1320  -  1095  b,  c. 

II.  From  the  establishment  of  the  monarchy  to  the  sep- 
aration of  the  two  kingdoms,  1005  -  975  b.  c. 

III.  From  the  separation  of  the  kingdoms  to  the  Babylo- 
nian captivit}',  975  -  5S6  B.  c. 

IV.  From  the  Babylonian  captivity  to  the  absorption  of 
Judaea  by  Rome,  5S6-63  b.  c. 

83.  During  the  first  period  the  Hebrew  government  was 
a  theocracy  (or  a  government  of  God),  the  divine  will  being 


THE  HEBREWS. 


39 


First  Period. 


manifested  through  the  high-priest.      For  the  conduct  of 
affairs  there  was  a  succession  of  rulers  and 
"  Judges  "  ;    these   were   designated   to   their 
office  by  revela- 
tion from  heav- 
en,    and      they 
were  obeyed  by 
common       con- 
sent,   but    they 
claimed  no  hon- 
ors   of    royalty. 
The  last  of  this 
line     of     rulers 
was  the  prophet 
Samuel. 

84.  The  sec- 
ond period  of 
Jewish  history 
includes  the  era 
of  the  united 
monarchy,  and 
it  continues  dur- 
ing three  reigns. 
The  first  of  the 
kings  was  Saul, 
who  after  a 
stormy  reign  of 
forty  years  was 


MAP  STUDY. 
I.  What  sea  formed  the  western  boundary  of  the  Holy  Land?  2. 
What  was  its  eastern  boundary  ?  3.  What  was  the  situation  of  Phot, 
nicia  with  reference  to  Palestine  ?  4.  Name  the  chief  river  in  the  Holy 
Land.  5.  Locate  the  Dead  {or  Salt)  Sea.  6.  In  what  part  was  the 
Kingdom  of  Judah  ?  7.  The  Kingdom  of  Israel  ?  8.  Where  was  the 
seat  of  the  Philistines  ?  9.  Name  the  seaports.  10.  Locate  Jerusalem; 
Samaria;  Tadmor. 


40  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

succeeded  by  his  son-in-law,  David.  This  monarch,  the 
greatest  who  ever  ruled  the  nation,  conquered  Jerusalem 
from  the  Jeb'usites,  and  made  it  the  seat  both  of  the 
national  government  and  religion.  By  his  wars  David  ex- 
tended his  dominion  from  the  Red  Sea  to  the  Euphrates, 
and  subdued  the  Philis'tines  and  other  Syrian  tribes.  His 
son  Solomon  succeeded  him  in  1015  b.  c. 

85.  Under  Solomon  (1015-975  b.  c),  the  Israelites  be- 
Reign  of  Solo-  Came  the  paramount  race  in  Syria,  and  the 
'"°"-  Jewish  state  was  a  real  imperial  power.  At 
this  time  it  had  relations  both  with  Eg}^pt  and  Phoenicia; 
Solomon  shared  the  profits  of  Syrian  commerce,  and  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  a  Pharaoh. 

86.  A  third  period,  one  of  decline,  set  in  immediately 
Period  of  de-  after  the  reign  of  Solomon.  The  subject 
*^''°^'  states  threw  off  the  Jewish  yoke ;  disunion 
took  place  among  the  Jews  themselves,  and  the  imperial 
power  crumbled  into  two  petty  kingdoms,  —  that  of  Israel 
(capital  at  Samaria),  composed  of  ten  out  of  the  twelve 
tribes,  and  that  of  Judah  (capital  at  Jerusalem),  made  up  of 
the  other  two. 

87.  The  kingdom  of  Israel  lasted  for  about  250  years. 
Israel  and  It  was  finally  overwhelmed  by  Sargon,  king 
Judah.  Qf  Assyria,  and  the  ten  tribes  were  carried 
into  captivity,  721  B.  c.  The  kingdom  of  Judah  con- 
tinued more  than  a  century  afterwards ;  but  Jerusalem 
was  captured  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon  (586 
B.  c),  the  population  of  Judah  were  torn  from  their  homes 
to  pine  in  Babylon,  and  the  history  of  the  Jews  ceased  for 
seventy  years.  The  triumph  of  Cyrus  over  Babylonia  was 
followed  by  an  edict  by  which  the  Jews  were  restored  to 
their  homes  (536  b  c). 

88.  The  interval  between  the  return  from  captivity  to  the 

conquest   of   the   Romans   forms    the    Fourth 
Period   of  Jewish  history.     During  this  time 


THE  HEBREWS. 


41 


the  nation  underwent  many  vicissitudes.  First  it  formed  a 
satrapy  or  province  of  the  Persian  Empire  ;  then,  in  332 
B.  c,  it  came  under  the  sway  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and 
for  a  hundred  years  after  his  death  it  was  ruled  by  the 
Ptolemies  of  Egypt.  The  Greek  language  now  became 
common  in  Judaea,  and  the  Septuagint  Version  of  the  Penta- 
teuch was  prepared  in  that  language  under  the  direction  of 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus.  In  the  year  166  B.  c.  the  Jews  threw 
off  the  foreign  yoke  and  secured  their  national  independence  ; 
but  a  century  later,  Jerusalem  was  captured  by  the  Roman 
general  Pompey  (63  b.  c),  and  Judaea  became  a  part  of  the 

Roman  prov- 
ince of  Syria. 
The  Jews  were 
not  obedient 
subjects,  and 
drew  down  on 
themselves  se- 
vere punish- 
ments. At 
length,  in  the 
year  70  a.  d.,  Jerusalem  was  again  taken  after  a  long  siege 
by  Titus,  the  city  was  razed  to  the  ground,  and  the  nation 
became  dispersed,  as  it  now  is,  throughout  every  country 
of  the  world. 

89.    In  summing  up  Hebrew  history  as  a  whole  we  notice  • 
1.  Tnat,  in  geographical  extent,  the  Jewish  state 
was  but  a  limited  domain,  —  the  whole  country     ^"'"""^'"y- 

*  This  interesting  coin  was  struck  in  A.  D.  77.  The  face  of  the  coin 
(the  obverse),  shown  on  the  left-hand  side,  represents  the  laurel-crowned 
head  of  Titus,  with  the  inscription  T[itus]  CAES[ar]  IMP[erator] 
AUG[usti]  F[ilius]  TR[ibunicia]  P[otestate]  CO[n]S[ul]  VI  [i.  e.  sex- 
turn]  CENSOR  ;  that  is,  Titus  Cssar,  Imperator.son  of  Augustus  [i.  e. 
Vespasian],  with  tribunitial  power,  sixth  time  consul,  censor.  On  the 
back  of  the  coin  (or  reverse),  at  the  right-hand  side,  is  a  female  figure 
seated  under  a  palm-tree,  behind  which  are  ii  standard,  helmets,  etc. ; 
and  on  this  side  is  the  inscription  IVDAEA  CAPTA,  i.e.  Jtidcea  taken. 


Coin  of  Titus.* 


42  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL   MONARCHIES. 

being  only  150  miles  long  by  about  50  miles  wide  ;  2.  That, 
compared  with  the  great  Oriental  empires,  with  Assyria  and 
Babylonia,  Egypt  and  Persia,  its  political  importance  was 
;light;  3.  That  the  Jewish  people  contributed  little  to 
ancient  civilization,  so  far  as  regards  art,  science,  or  politics. 
90.  The  meaning  and  the  mission  of  the  Hebrew  race 
Mission  of  the  wcre  not  in  these  forms  of  activity :  it  was 
•I^^^-  given  that  people  to  influence  the  world  in  an 

entirely  different  way,  namely,  through  spiritual  truths  and 
moral  ideas  embodied  in  sublime  forms  by  bards  and  sages. 
These  works,  reverenced  by  us  as  the  body  of  Old  Testa- 
ment literature,  remain  the  permanent  possession  of  the 
whole  human  family. 


CHRONOLOGIC     SUMMARY. 

B.C. 
Migration  of  Abraham (about)     1920 


The  Exodus 


1320 


Establishment  of  the  monarchy  under  Saul 1095 

Accession  of  Solomon ,         .  loic 

Division  of  the  kingdom 975 

Captivity  of  the  Israelites  .         . 721 

Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar  (Babylonish  captivity).  586 

Return  of  the  Jews 536 

Subjugation  of  Judasa  by  Alexander 332 

Absorption  by  Rome                  .     - ^ 


THE  PHCENICIANS.  43 


CHAPTER    V. 
THE    PHCENICIANS. 

91.  Phcenicia  was  one  of  the  most  important  countries  of 
the  ancient  world,  and  to  us  the  Phoenicians  interest  of 
are  one  of  the  most  interesting  peoples  of  early  **^^"'  history, 
history.  The  interest  and  importance  of  this  nation  do  not 
arise  from  the  extent  of  its  territory,  —  for  Phcenicia  proper 
was  all  comprised  in  a  mere  strip  of  land  between  Mount 
Lebanon  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  —  but  from  the  fact 
that  the  Phoenicians  hold  a  high  place  in  the  history  of 
primitive  civilization. 

92.  The  Phoenicians  were  the  earliest  commercial  and 
colonizing  people  on  the  shores  of  the  Medi-  Traders  and 
terraneanSea.  There  they  preceded  the  Greeks,  Colonizers, 
who  subsequently  became  their  great  rivals  in  trading  and  in 
planting  settlements.  It  was  not  until  about  1000  b.  c.  that 
the  Greeks  began  to  push  off  from  the  mainland  and  to  oc- 
cupy the  islands  of  the  ^gaean  Sea  and  the  shores  of  Asia 
Minor,  —  and  when  they  did  commence  to  spread  themselves 
from  the  mainland  to  the  islands,  they  found  the  Phoenicians 
already  settled  there. 

93.  As  early,  probably,  as  the  9th  century  b.  c.  the  enter= 
prising  Phoenicians  had  founded  on  the  north- 
ern coast  of   Africa   the  colony  of  Carthage, 

which  became  the  most  famous  of  the  Phoenician  colonies, 
and  which,  five  or  six  hundred  years  after  this,  guided  by  the 
military  genius  of  Han'nibal,  ventured  to  cope  with  the 
mighty  power  of  the  Roman  Commonwealth. 

94.  The  Phoenicians  had  gone  even  farther:  they  had 
made  their  way  beyond  what  the  Greeks  called  Extent  of  set- 
the  "  Pillars  of  Hercules,"  that  is,  the  Strait  of  ^i^'"^"*^- 


44 


ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 


Gibraltar,  and  had  sailed 
into  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
There  they  had  founded 
the  city  of  Ga'des  (now 
Cadiz).  Sailing  over  the 
Atlantic,  their  merchants 
sought  the  southern  parts 
of  the  British  Islands  to 
procure  tin  from  Cornwall. 
In  the  Eastern  seas  the 
Phoenicians  had  made  es- 
tablishments on  the  Ara- 
bian and  Persian  Gulfs, 
whence  they  traded  with 
India  and  Ceylon  and  the 
coasts  of  Africa.  Thus 
we  see  that  the  Phceni- 
cians  were  navigators,  mer- 
chants, and  planters  of 
colonies  several  centuries 
before  the  Greeks  rose  to 
any  note  in  the  world. 

95.  The  Phoenicians  as 
Influence  of  planters  of 
colonies.  colonies  had 

an  important  influence  on 
the  progress  of  civilization, 


from    the    Mediterranean   Sea 


and  of  political  freedom ;  and 


MAP    STUDY. 

I.  Where  was  Phcenicia  ?  2.  What  nation  immediately  south  ?  3.  In 
what  respect  was  Phcenicia  well  situated  for  commerce  ?  4.  Name  the 
five  principal  Phoenician  cities.  5.  Where  was  the  territory  of  Carthage  ? 
6.  The  city  of  Carthage  ?  7.  Utica  ?  8.  What  was  the  name  of  the 
Phoenician  territory  in  southern  Spain?  9.  Where  was  Gades.'  10. 
Name  the  large  Mediterranean  islands  in  which  the  Phoenicians  had 
colonies. 


THE  PHCENICIANS.  45 

we  must  now  try  to  understand  how  this  was.  Colonies  are- 
founded  by  trading  nations  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a 
lucrative  commerce,  by  establishing  a  market  for  the  manu- 
factured produce  of  the  parent  state,  and  a  carrying-trade 
for  its  merchants  and  seamen.  This  is  the  tnotive;  and  we 
see  that  it  contrasts  very  noticeably  with  the  cause  that  leads 
despotic  states  to  form  military  establishments,  —  which  is 
mere  lust  of  conquest  for  conquest's  sake.  Colonies  plant- 
ed by  commercial  states  require  to  be  flourishing  in  order 
that  the  mother  country  shall  have  profitable  relations  with 
them.  The  parent  country,  knowing  this,  leaves  the  colonies 
to  the  guidance  of  persons  advanced  in  political  knowledge, 
who  know  how  to  adapt  the  institutions  of  the  home  gov- 
ernment to  the  actual  state  of  affairs  in  the  new  settlement : 
hence  it  has  generally  happened  that  civil  liberty  has  devel- 
oped more  rapidly  in  commercial  colonies  than  in  the  par- 
ent country  itself. 

96.  The  ancient  Phoenicians  were  the  inventors  of  the 
first  perfect  alphabet.  This  is  a  very  signifi- 
cant and  interesting  fact ;  for,  all  things  consid- 
ered, the  art  of  alphabetical  writing  is  probably  the  most 
important  invention  ever  made  by  man.  We  have  seen 
that  the  Egyptians  developed  the  germ  of  the  alphabet ;  but 
the  Eg}'ptian  writing  was  only  in  ^zxX.  phonetic :  hence  the 
hierogtyphic  alphabet  was  very  cumbersome,  consisting  of 
several  hundred  characters,  no  sound  having  one  fixed  and 
invariable  character  to  represent  it.  The  ci/neifonn,  wedge- 
shaped,  or  arrow-headed  characters  of  the  Babylonians  and 
Assyrians  were  not  truly  phonetic :  they  represented,  as  a 
general  thing,  syllables  rather  than  sounds.  It  was  reserved 
for  the  Phoenicians  to  adopt  the  apparently  simple,  yet  in- 
genious and  beautiful,  device  of  determining  the  few  ele- 
mentary sounds  of  language  and  appropriating  one  distinc- 
tive character  to  represent  each  sound.  The  period  of  the 
invention  is  not  definitely  known. 


46  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

97.  The  Greeks  were  directly  indebted  to  the  Phceni- 
^  ^  cians  for  the  alphabet :  the  Romans  adoptee 

Cadmus.  1        >-.        1       1    ,     i  .1  ,  , 

the  Greek  alphabet  with  some  changes;  the 
Roman  alphabet  is  the  basis  of  our  modern  alphabets. 
The  Greeks  themselves  were  ignorant  of  precisely  how  they 
obtained  the  alphabet  from  the  Phoenicians.  The  account 
they  gave  is  that  "  Cadmus  brought  sixteen  letters  from 
Phoenicia  into  Greece,  to  which  Palame'des,  in  the  time  of 
the  Trojan  war,  added  four  more,  and  Simon'ides  afterwards 
added  four."*  Modern  scholars  have  proved  that  Cadffiiis 
is  a  mere  fabled  name  signifying  "the  East."  However,  it 
is  quite  certain  that  the  Greeks  did  derive  their  alphabet 
from  Phoenicia.  The  transition  from  the  Phoenician  to  the 
Greek  may  be  readily  perceived  by  examining  the  table  on 
the  opposite  page. 

98.  The  origin  of  the  Phoenician  nation  is  lost  in  the 
Origin  of  the  darkness  that  shrouds  primitive  history.  It 
Phcenicians.  j^  j^^own  that,  like  the  Hebrews,  they  were 
pure  Semites.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  were 
emigrants  from  Chaldaea,  and  as  it  is  recorded  in  the  He- 
brew Scriptures  that  Abraham  came  out  of  "  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,"  we  may  infer  that  Southern  Mesopotamia  was 
the  native  seat  of  the  Semites.  When  the  Phoenician  branch 
of  the  Semites  reached  their  new  home  on  the  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean,  they  found  an  aboriginal  population  of 
Ca'naanites,  whom  they  subdued,  just  as  the  Jews  did  in 
Judffia.  We  also  know  that  the  Phoenician  and  Jewish 
rulers  and  peoples  were  connected  by  ties  of  friendship. 
Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  was  the  friend  both  of  David  and  of 
Solomon. 

99.  Phoenicia  consisted  of  several  independent  states, 
Nature  of  the  cach  city,  in  fact,  being  a  separate  state,  under 
nation.  j^g  ^^^  j^jj^g  .  ^^^  ^^jy  -^^  times  of  danger  did 

they  occasionally  unite  under  the  leadership  of  the  most 

♦  Pliny. 


r^^  PHCENICIANS 

47 

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48 


ANCIENT  ORIENTAL   MONARCHIES. 


powerful.  The  chief  cities  of  Phoenicia  proper  were  Sidon 
and  Tyre.  Of  these  Sidon  was  the  more  ancient ;  and  pre- 
vious to  about  1050  B.  c,  when  Tyre  became  predominant, 
it  was  the  most  flourishing  of 
all  the  Phoenician  commu- 
nities. About  1050  there 
was  a  transfer  of  power  to 
Tyre. 

100.  The  commerce  of 
Tyre  is  de- 
scribed as  very 
extensive  at  this  time.  Her 
ships  sailed  to  Tarshish 
(the  south  of  Spain),  and 
sought  the  gold  of  Ophir, 
along  the  east  coast  of  Af- 
rica.      Phoenicia   grew    rich 


Cotnmerce   of 
Tyre. 


Tyre,  and  Phcenician  Galley. 


also  by  exports,  of  which  the  chief  were  the  embroidery  and 
glass  of  Sidon  and  the  Tyrian  purple,  a  dye  yielded  by  two 
shell-fish,  which  gave  a  high  value  to  the  stuffs  woven  in 
the  Tyrian  looms.  The  Phoenicians  were  also  skillful  in 
metallurgy ;  and  their  bronzes,  their  gold  and  silver  ves- 
sels, and  other  works  in  metal,  had  a  high  repute. 

101.  Phoenicia  was  successively  subject  to  Assyria,  in  the 
Revolution  of  Qth  ccntury ;  to  the  Babylonians,  under  Nebu- 
pohtics.  chadnezzar,  at  the  close  of  the  7th  century  ; 
to  the  Persians,  under  Cambyses,  towards  the  close  ot 
the  6th  century  ;  and  to  the  Greeks,  under  Alexander  the 
Great,  in  the  4th  century  B.  c.  Still  later  it  was  absorbed 
in  the  universal  dominion  of  Rome,  63  b.  c. 

102.  The  greatest  period  of  Phoenician  history  was  dur- 
Generai  sur-  ing  the  five  hundred  years  from  the  nth  to  the 
^^y-  6th  century  b.  c.  As  Greece  rose  to  power,  and 
as  Carthage  increased  in  importance,  the  sea-trade  of  Phoe- 
nicia was  to  a  considerable  degree  checked.     However,  she 


THE  rUCENICIANS. 


49 


continued  to  preserve  a  great  caravan-trade  with  the  interior 
of  Asia  via  Babylon.  The  foundation  of  Alexandria  as  a 
seaport  must  have  damaged  the  commerce  of  Phoenicia. 
Still,  it  was  not  undl  the  Middle  Ages  that  her  light  went 
■>ut,  and  she  became  a  "  place  for  the  drying  of  nets." 

103.  The  Phoenicians  deserve  to  be  commemorated  in 
history  by  the  side  of  the  Greek  and  the  Latin  Part  played  by 
nations,  as  the  only  one  of  the  Asiatic  peoples  cialis.  '^"'" 
that  became  a  diffuser  of  civilization.  We  should  note,  how- 
ever, that  their  development  was  very  one-sided.  Thus 
their  religious  conceptions  were  rude  and  uncouth,  and  this 
is  a  remarkable  fact,  when  we  consider  their  kinship  with 
the  Hebrews.  In  learning  and  in  artistic  productions  they 
were  far  behind  the  Babylonians  ;  so  that  in  intellectual 
matters  they  appear  to  have  been  adaptors  rather  than 
originators.  Again,  unlike  the  Greeks  and  Latins,  the 
Phoenicians  seem  to  have  been  devoid  of  genuine  political 
instinct :  liberty  had  no  charm  for  them,  and  they  aspired 
not  after  dominion.  "  Careless  they  dwelt,"  says  the  Book 
of  Judges,  "  after  the  manner  of  the  Sidonians,  quiet  and 
secure." 

104.  The  Phoenicians  were  a  race  essentially  material- 
istic and  commercial.  They  were  the  earliest  Their  civiUza- 
merchants,  carriers,  and  colonizers.     It  is  true   *'°"* 

that,  incidejitally,  they  were  the  means  of  diffusing  intel- 
lectual wares  that  were  more  valuable  than  all  the  products 
of  the  Sidonian  shops  or  the  fabrics  of  the  Tyrian  looms : 
they  spread  the  alphabet,  and  they  gave  to  the  Aryan  races 
on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  ideas  of  learning,  sci- 
ence, and  art  which  they  themselves  had  borrowed  from 
the  East ;  but  these  ideas  were  scattered  by  them  "  more 
after  the  fashion  of  a  bird  dropping  grains  than  of  the 
husbandman  sowing  his  seed."* 

*  Mommsen,  History  of  Roine> 
3> 


50  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

CHAPTER    VI. 
THE    HINDOOS. 

105.  The  Oriental  nations  of  which  we  have  thus  fai 

learned  have  been  either  Semites  or  Hamites. 
'  We  are  now  to  inquire  into  the  history  of  the 
two  Asiatic  representatives  of  the  great  Aryan  race,  —  the 
Hindoos  and  the  Persians. 

106.  We  have  already  seen  that  the  forefathers  of  all  the 
First  seat  of  great  European  peoples  came  originally  from 
the  Aryans.  Western  Asia,  where  they  dwelt  side  by  side 
with  the  ancestors  of  the  Persians  and  Hindoos.  But  the 
original  seat  of  the  undivided  Aryan  family  was  not  Persia 
or  India.  Tae  Persians  were  immigrants  into  Persia,  and 
the  Hindoos  /nto  India,  just  as  the  Greeks,  Latins,  Teutons, 
Celts,  and  Slavonians  were  immigrants  into  Europe.  Th"^ 
original  seat  of  the  undivided  Aryan  stock  is  fixed  by  schol- 
ars to  the  northeast  of  Persia,  in  the  region  of  the  Oxus  and 
Jax-ar'tes  rivers. 

107.  The  primitive  Hindoos,  leaving  their  native  seat, 
Hindoo  migra-  first  Settled  in  the  northwestern  part  of  India. 
*'°"'  It  seems  to  have  been  about  the  year  3000 
B.  c.  *  that  they  crossed  the  Indus  and  established  them- 
selves between  that  river  and  the  Jumna,  since  known  among 
themselves  as  Ar'ya  Var'ta.  Some  time  afterwards  we  find 
them  occupying  all  the  country  north  of  the  Vindya  range. 

108.  At  this  time  the  peninsula  of  India  was  occupied 
Amaigama-  by  native  dark  races.  These  were  speedily 
"°"'  subdued  by  the  fair-skinned  Aryans,  who 
eventually  overspread  the  entire  country.     In  process  of 

*  According  to  Sanscrit  scholars,  3101  B.  c. 


THE  HINDOOS.  5  I 


time  these  lost  much  of  their  purity  of  blood  by  intermix- 
ing with  the  native  tribes,  many  of  whose  customs  and 
ideas  they  adopted,  and  in  the  end  they  almost  wholly  lost 
their  identity.  This  fact  explains  much  that  is  peculiar 
in  the  civilization  of  the  Hindoos.  The  Aryans  in  general 
are  a  progressive  and  practical  race  ;  but  the  Hindoos,  after 
making  considerable  advances  in  literature  and  philoso- 
phy, became  stationary,  and  had  very  little  influence  on 
the  great  current  of  the  world's  history.  We  shall  see  that 
their  kinsmen  the  Persians,  being  left  unmixed,  developed 
far  more  of  those  characteristics  that  marked  the  Euro- 
pean members  of  the  Aryan  stock,  —  the  Greeks,  Latins, 
Teutons,  etc. 

109.  The  first  historical  notice  that  we  have  of  India  in 
relation  with  Europe  is  at  that  great  epoch  Alexander's 
in  its  history,  its  invasion  by  Alexander  the  ^'^'^■ 
Great  (326  b.  c),  in  the  course  of  his  world-conquering  expe- 
dition. The  Macedonian  leader  merely  looked  into  India, 
fought  a  few  engagements  with  the  native  princes,  and  then 
returned  ;  but  the  historians  who  accompanied  the  expe- 
dition left  a  description  of  Indian  society,  —  and  it  corre- 
sponds almost  exactly  with  what  may  be  seen  at  the  present 
day. 

110.  At  the  time  of  Alexander  Indian  society  was  firmly 
fixed  in  castes,  similar  to  the  state  of  things 

Castes. 

we  found  in  Egypt ;  and  the  same  system 
both  prevails  to  the  present  day  and  has  prevailed  from 
time  immemorial.  The  Hindoos  made  four  divisions  of 
society:  i.  The  Brahmins,  whose  proper  business  was  re- 
ligion and  philosophy;  2.  The  Kshatriyas,  who  attended  to 
war  and  government ;  3.  The  Vaisyas,  who  were  the  mer- 
chants and  farmers  ;  4.  The  Sudras,  or  artisans  and  laborers. 
Below  even  the  lowest  of  these  classes  were  the  Fa'riahs,  or 
outcasts,  who  performed  the  meanest  of  all  labors.  As  a 
general  thing,  every  person  was  required  to  follow  the  pro- 


52  AiXCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

fession  of  the  caste  to  which  he  belonged,  and  the  regula- 
tions about  intermarriage  were  very  rigidly  prescribed. 

111.  The  division  into  castes  probably  arose  from  the 

desire  of  the  conquering  Arvans  to  keep  up  a 

Origin  of  caste.    ,.     .         .  ,  ^        ,    ^        /  ,      .        .. 

distmction  between  themselves  and  the  infe- 
rior tribes  about  them ;  and  the  Hindoo  word  for  caste 
varna,  is  said  to  mean  color. 

112.  The  language  of  the  ancient  Hindoos  was  the  San- 
Sanscrit  scnt ;  it  is  uot  now  spoken,  and  is  understood 
speech.  ^j^jy  ^y  |.|^g  Brahmins  and  by  scholars  who 
have  studied  it.  It  was  the  opening  up  of  this  tongue  to 
the  knowledge  of  European  scholars,  at  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  that  led  to  the  grouping  of  all  the  languages 
of  Europe  along  with  the  Sanscrit  as  the  Indo-Eiiropeafi 
(Aryan)  family  of  tongues.  It  was  found  that  Sanscrit, 
both  in  its  words  and  grammar,  bore  a  remarkable  likeness 
to  the  Greek,  Latin,  German,  Celtic,  and  Slavonic  languages ; 
and  though  Sanscrit  is  not  now  regarded  as  the.  parent  of  these 
dialects,  it  is  looked  upon  as  the  language  the  nearest  to 
the  original  speech  of  the  undivided  Aryans. 

113.  In  this  highly  developed  language  the  learned  men 
Hindoo  liter-  of  ancicnt  Hindostau  recorded  a  vast  body  of 
^^"'■^-  literature,  much  of  which  has  been  preserved 
to  the  present  day.  Among  the  oldest  of  these  writings  are 
the  Vedas,  which  are  believed  to  be  as  old  as  2000  b.  c. 
They  form  part  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Brahminic  re- 
ligion. 

114.  The  Vedas  distinctly  set  forth   the   doctrine  that 

there  is  "  one  unknown  true  Being,  all-present 
all-powerful,  the  creator,  preserver,  and  de- 
stroyer of  the  universe."  This  Supreme  Being  "  is  not  con 
ceivable  by  vision  or  by  any  other  of  the  organs  of  sense.' 
But  the  prevailing  theology  which  runs  through  them  is 
what  is  called  pantheism,  or  that  system  which  speaks  0/ 
God  as  the  soul  of  the  universe,  or  as  the  universe  itself 


THE  HINDOOS.  53 


**  In  him  the  whole  world  is  absorbed ;  from  him  it  issues ; 
he  is  entwined  and  interwoven  with  all  creation."  "  All 
that  exists  is  God ;  whatever  we  smell,  or  taste,  or  see,  or 
hear,  or  feel,  is  the  Supreme  Being."  The  Invisible  Su- 
preme Being,  according  to  the  Hindoos,  manifests  himself 
in  three  forms,  —  as  Brahma  the  creator,  Vishnu  the  pre- 
server, and  Siva  the  destroyer. 

115.  The  central  point  of  the  Hindoo  theology  was  the 
doctrine  of  transmigration  of  souls.     Accord-   Doctrine  of 

,  .        ,  .11  1    •       •    •         1     transmigra- 

mg  to  this  doctrme  the  human  soul  is  joined  tion. 
to  earthly  bodies  only  for  the  purpose  of  punishment,  and 
its  aim  and  effort  are  to  reunite  itself  with  the  Divine 
Spirit  of  the  universe.  The  Hindoo,  therefore,  regards  ex- 
istence in  this  world  as  a  time  of  trial  and  punishment,  to 
be  abridged  by  prayer  and  sacrifice,  by  penance  and  purifi- 
cation. If  a  man  neglects  these,  his  soul  after  death  will  be 
joined  to  the  body  of  an  inferior  animal,  and  will  have  to 
commence  its  wanderings  afresh. 

116.  In  addition  to  the  Vedas,  the  Hindoos  possess  a 
very  extensive  literature,  both  prose  and  po- 

•      1  »  -1        11  1  ri  1       Other  writings. 

etical.  A  considerable  number  of  these  works 
have  been  translated  by  modern  scholars.  They  are  ex- 
ceedingly curious,  and  of  the  highest  worth  as  illustrative 
of  the  mental  state  of  this  peculiar  ancient  representative 
of  our  own  Aryan  stock ;  but  the  absence  of  artistic  form 
prevents  their  being  appreciated  by  general  readers,  and 
hence  lessens  their  literary  value. 

117.  There  are  in  India  copious  remains  of  ancient  art. 
Among  the  most  remarkable  of  the  monuments 

,  ,    ,  ,  .  Architecture. 

are  the  rock-hewn  temples  and  grottos,  espe- 
cially those  found  at  Ello'ra,  in  the  middle  of  Lower  India, 
and  at  the  Island  of  Elephan'ta,  in  the   Bay  of  Bombay. 
These  are  elaborately  sculptured  and  inscribed,  and  must 
have  required  the  labor  of  thousands  of  hands  for  ages. 

118.  In  the  6th  century  b.  c.  there  arose  in  India  a  new 


54  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

system  of  religion  called  Buddhism.     Its  founder  was  an 
Indian   prince    named    Gautauma.      It   grew 

Buddhism.  .     ^  .    .  ....  .  ° 

out  of  a  social  and  religious  reaction  from 
the  abuses  of  the  old  Brahminism ;  and  it  was  no  doubt  in 
many  respects  an  important  reform.  It  spread  rapidly, 
and  is  still  the  religion  of  one  third  of  the  human  race. 
119.  Though  during  the  whole  period  of  antiquity  India 
remained  shut  out  from  what  was  then  the  civ- 
ilized world,  it  nevertheless  had  an  important 
influence  on  ancient  commerce.  The  abundance  of  the  pro- 
ductions of  nature  and  art  —  pearls,  precious  stones,  ivory, 
spice,  frankincense,  and  silks  —  made  that  region  from  an 
early  period  the  center  of  a  great  maritime  and  caravan  trade. 
The  Phoenicians,  as  we  have  seen,  were  engaged  in  the  car- 
rying-trade of  India  both  by  land  and  sea.  The  same  busi- 
ness was  inherited  by  the  Italian  republics  during  the 
Middle  Ages ;  and  the  "  pearl  and  gold  "  of  India  found 
their  way  through  Arabia  and  the  Red  Sea  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean, till  Vasco  da  Gama,  in  the  time  of  Columbus,  round- 
ed the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 


KucK  Tkmplb  of  India. 


\ 


V  : 


THE  ^'^erro^^^'^         - 

V  '^ 

'v. ,  iSi/ene 

THE 

TV^OKLD  ^ .  , 

WHICH  j-^,-  ^ 

ALEXANDER  CONQUERED 


The  numi 


from 


],..„.      II  a,/,n,u, 


THE  PERSIAN  EMPIRE.  55 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    PERSIAN    EMPIRE. 

I.    HISTORICAL    OUTLINE. 

120.  It  will  be  convenient  to  connect  the  history  of  the 
Medes  with  that  of  the  Persians  for  two  rea-  connection  of 
sons:  I.  The  people  of  both  countries  be-  Persia.^ 
longed  to  the  same  race;  2.  Although  Media  and  Persia 
were  for  a  time  separate  governments,  yet  very  soon  Media 
was  absorbed  in  Persia. 

121.  On  the  plateau  east  of  the  chain  of  Zagros  —  the 
plain  of  ancient  Iraji  —  dwelt  a  hardy  race,  the  origin  of  the 
Medes,  and  a  kindred  stock,  the  Persians.  '■^'=*®- 
They  were  both  pure  Aryans.  They  were  immigrants  from 
the  northeasterly  native  seat  of  the  Aryan  stock.  By  vari- 
ous successive  movements,  which  were  not  completed  till 
the  8th  century  b.  c,  they  established  themselves  in  the 
highlands  of  Media  and  Persia. 

122.  The  Medes  first  come  to  notice  in  connection  with 
the  Assyrians.      About  b.  c.    710  Sargon,  an   ^       ,    ^ 

.     ■'  '  °  Early  Medes. 

Assyrian   monarch,  conquered    some    Median 

territory,  and  planted  it  with  colonies,  in  which  he  placed 

MAP    STUDY. 

See  map  of  the  Persian  Empire,  opposite  this  pago. 

I.  What  sea  formed  the  western  boundary  of  the  Persian  Empire? 
2.  What  countries  to  the  east .'  3.  What  sea  south  ?  4.  What  two 
gulfs  south  ?  5.  What  three  seas  to  the  north  ?  6.  What  country  in 
.Africa  was  inclosed  in  the  Persian  Empire.'  7.  What  satrapies  in  the 
Tigro-Euphrates  basin?  8.  What  is  the  situation  of  Persia  Proper 
(Persis)?  9.  Into  what  sea  do  the  Oxus  and  Jaxartes  empty?  ID. 
What  mountain  chain  to  the  east  of  the  Tigro-Euphrates  basin?  II, 
Where  were  Persepolis ;  Susa;  Ecbatana;  Maracanda.? 


56  AXCJENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

the  Israelites  from  the  cities  of  Samaria  who  had  been  led 
into  captivity  by  the  Assyrians. 

123.  But  the  Assyrians  could  not  hold  in  subjection  the 

Medes,  who  grew  in  power  and  established  a 

Rise  and  fall.  .     -»»^     i-  1  1         /".  /■ 

great  Median  monarchy  under  Cyaxares,  633 
B.  c.  He  was  r.  conquering  king :  invading  Assyria,  he 
destroyed  Nineveh  in  625  b.  c,  and  pushed  the  Median 
arms  westward  into  Asia  Minor.  This  king,  the  founder 
of  the  Median  monarchy,  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Asty'- 
ages,  under  whom  the  brief  dominion  of  Media  gave  place 
to  the  rule  of  Persia  under  Cyrus  the  Great. 

124.  During  this  early  period  of  the  Median  monarchy, 

the  Persians  also  had  established  a  kingdom 
ar  y  ersians.  ^.^  Pej-gis,  or  ancicnt  Persia  proper) ;  but  it 
was  in  a  measure  subject  to  Media.  While  Astyages  was 
king  of  the  Medes  Cambyses  was  king  of  the  Persians,  but 
Cambyses  acknowledged  Astv'ages  as  his  suzerain,  and  paid 
him  tribute.  The  daughter  of  the  Median  monarch  Asty- 
ages was  married  to  the  Persian  prince  Cambyses,  and  to 
them  a  son  was  born  named  Cyrus.  C}tus  lived  as  a  sort 
of  hosrage  at  the  court  of  his  grandfather  Astyages,  and 
could  not  leave  it  without  permission. 

125.  Thus  much  in  the  life  of  C}Tus  is  true  history ;  but 
Legend  of  whcu  wc  go  much  further,  we  are  immediately 
^y''"^-  plunged  into  fable.  Both  Herodotus  and  Xen'- 
ophon*  exalted  Cyrus  to  the  rank  of  a  hero  of  romance. 
The  following  is  the  current  story  of  his  early  life.  Asty- 
ages having  dreamed  that  his  daughter's  son  should  con- 
quer all  Asia,  intrusted  to  a  courtier,  Har'pagus,  the  task 
of  killing  the  little  Cyrus.  Harpagus  gave  the  child  to  a 
herdsman,  who  promised  to  expose  it  on  the  mountains. 

*  Xenophon,  a  Greek  historian,  was  born  about  444  B.  c,  and  was 
a  disciple  and  friend  of  Socrates.  He  ■svrote  a  work  on  Cyrus  called 
CyropcEdia  (literally,  Education  of  Cyrus) ;  but  it  is  rather  a  political 
romance  than  an  authentic  history. 


THE   PERSIAN  EMPIRE.  57 

But  the  herdsman  was  led  to  substitute  his  own  dead  baby 
for  the  living  prince,  who  grew  up  in  a  humble  station. 
The  secret  was  disclosed,  when  Cyrus  began  to  lord  it  over 
his  playfellows  and  beat  them.  A  noble's  son  complained 
to  the  king,  and  the  royal  boy  was  recognized.  Astyages 
took  a  barbarous  revenge  on  Harpagus,  by  cooking  the 
courtier's  son  and  serving  up  the  flesh  for  the  father  to 
partake  of.  Cyrus  was  sent  to  his  father,  and  Harpagus 
bided  his  time  for  revenge.  When  the  time  was  ripe,  he 
sent  a  secret  message  to  Cyrus,  who  invaded  Media,  was 
welcomed  by  crowds  of  deserting  troops,  and  by  their  aid 
overturned  the  Median  throne,  558  b.  c.  We  need  not  at- 
tempt to  discover  what  basis  of  truth,  if  any,  there  may  be 
in  this  legend.  One  fact  is  certain,  that  under  Cyrus  the 
Persians  became  the  ruling  power. 

126.  Commencing  his  reign  in  558  b.  c,  Cyrus  first  sub- 
dued all  the  northern  and  western  provinces  conquests  of 
of  the  old  Median  kingdom.  On  the  western  '-y"®- 
frontier  the  most  formidable  enemy  he  encountered  was 
Croesus,  King  of  Lydia,  in  Asia  Minor.  Croesus,  taking  the 
offensive,  led  his  army  from  Sardis,  his  capital,  across  the 
river  Ha'lys  (which  formed  the  boundary  between  the  Per- 
sian and  the  Lydian  territory),  and  an  indecisive  action  was 
fought  near  Sino'pe.  But  Cyrus  followed  up,  and  by  the 
overthrow  of  Crcesus  and  capture  of  Sardis  added  all  Asia 
Minor  west  of  the  Halys  to  the  dominion  of  Persia,  554  b.  c* 
Next,  most  of  the  Greek  cities  and  colonies  on  the  coast  of 
Asia  Minor  and  the  adjoining  islands  were  subdued.  The 
remote  East  now  claimed  the  attention  of  Cyrus,  and  be 
tween  the  years  553  —  540  b.  c.  he  was  employed  in  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  various  tribes  in  the  region  between  Persia 
and  the  Indus,  —  Parthia,  Bactriana,  Sogdiana,  etc.f     The 

*  This  is  the  date  of  the  fall  of  Crcesus,  according  to  Rawlinson  ;  most 
other  chronologers  place  it  at  546  B.  C. 

+  See  Map  of  Persian  Empire,  opposite  p.  55. 


58  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL   MONARCHIES. 


greater  glory  of  reducing  the  mighty  power  of  Babylonia 
now  remained :  this  was  accomplished  by  the  capture  of 
Babylon  (538  b.  c),  as  already  described.     (See  page  36.) 

127.  During  his  career  of  twenty-nine  years,  Cyrus  ex- 
Extent  of  his  tended  the  Persian  dominion  from  the  Indus  to 
empire.  ^^  Hellespont,  from  the  Jaxartes  to  the  Syrian 
shore ;  and  indeed  he  left  to  his  successors  only  the  com- 
pletion and  consolidation  of  his  work,  for  by  his  own  efforts 
he  had  made  Persia  the  great  imperial  power  of  Asia. 

128.  Of  the  whole  line  of  Persian  monarchs  Cyrus  was 
the  greatest,  and  his  character  is  far  more  worthy  of  re- 
spect than  that  of  any  of  his  successors.  He  was  a  great 
Character  of  conqucror  without  being  a  cruel  ruler,  and  to 
Cyrus.  remarkable  ability  as  a  soldier  he  added  many 
noble  traits  as  a  man. 

129.  Cyrus  was  succeeded  by  his  son   Cambyses.     To 

another  son,  named  Stnerdis,  Cyrus  had  griven 

Cambyses.  ....  .       '       -^  ? 

the  dommion  over  some  important  provmces. 
This  arrangement  cost  Smerdis  his  life,  by  rousing  the  jeal- 
ousy of  his  brother,  who  very  early  in  his  reign  caused  him 
to  be  put  to  death  secretly.  The  chief  event  of  Cambyses's 
reign  was  his  conquest  of  Egypt  in  525  b.  c.  In  Egypt 
Cambyses  behaved  with  great  w^antonness  and  cruelty.  He 
forced  the  Egyptian  king  Psammen'itus  to  drink  poison  ;  he 
shocked  the  Egyptians  by  stabbing  a  calf  which  they  regard- 
ed as  sacred  ;  and  on  one  occasion,  when  a  courtier  told  him 
at  his  own  request  that  popular  rumor  blamed  him  for  drink- 
ing to  excess,  he  proved  the  steadiness  of  his  hand  and  eye 
by  piercing  the  heart  of  that  courtier's  son  with  an  arrow. 

130.  The  absence  of  Cambyses  brought  about  a  revolution 

at  the  Persian  capital.  A  Marian,  named  Go- 
Revolution.  \    .  ,        ,  •,       ,       o 

mates,  personated  the  murdered  brother  Smer- 
dis, and  headed  a  conspiracy  that  raised  him  to  the  throne. 
When  Cambyses  heard  the  news,  he  hastened  towards  Per- 
sia, but  while  on  the  way  he  died,  —  some  say  by  suicide, 


THE  PERSIAN  EMPIRE.  59 

Others  from  an  accidental  wound  from  his  own  dagger,  — 
522  B.  c,  after  having  reigned  less  than  eight  years.  The 
reign  of  the  false  Smerdis  was  brief.  Dari'us,  the  son  of 
Hystas'pes,  governor  of  one  of  the  Persian  provinces,  and 
himself  belonging  to  the  royal  family,  headed  an  insurrec- 
tion, and  the  impostor  was  slain  after  he  had  reigned  eight 
months. 

131.  Darius  I.  (Darius  Hystaspes),  who  ascended  the 
throne  521  b.  c,  was,  next  to  Cyrus,  the  great-  Reign  of  Da- 
est  of  the  Persian  monarchs.  He  completed  ""^-  1 
the  work  that  Cyrus  began.  Cyrus  by  his  conquests  >««^.?^' 
the  empire  ;  Darius  organized  it.  To  him  belongs  the  credit 
of  having  given  to  the  Persian  Empire  that  peculiar  politi- 
cal system  and  arrangement  that  maintained  it  in  a  fairly 
flourishing  condition  for  nearly  two  centuries. 

132.  Darius  divided  the  whole  empire  into  twenty  "  satra- 
pies," or  provinces  ;  the  native  tributary  kings   Persian  gov- 
being  swept  away,  and  each  province  governed   ^•'""'^'^  • 

by  a  Persian  official  called  a  satrap.  A  fixed  rate  of  tribute 
took  the  place  of  arbitrary  exactions.  "  Royal  roads  "  were 
established,  and  a  system  of  posts  arranged,  whereby  the 
court  received  rapid  intelligence  of  all  that  occurred  in  5he 
provinces.  The  great  centers  of  Persian  power  were  fixed 
at  Susa,  the  spring  residence  of  the  king ;  Ecbat'ana,  his 
summer  abode  ;  and  Babylon,  the  winter-quarters. 

133.  The  most  interesting  event  in  the  reign  of  Darius  is 
the  commencement  of  the  Persian  invasions  Relations  with 
of  Greece.     Some  of  the  Greek  cities  of  Ionia  *^''^^'=*- 

in  Asia  Minor,  which  had  been  brought  under  Persian  do- 
minion by  Cyrus,  revolted  ;  the  Athenians  encouraged  them 
in  this  revolt,  and  this  brought  Persia  and  Greece  into  col- 
lision on  the  plains  of  Marathon,  490  b.  c.  [As  nearly  all 
that  is  striking  in  the  after  history  of  Persia  interweaves 
itself  with  the  affairs  of  Greece,  the  narrative  will  best  be 
given  in  connection  with  Grecian  history.] 


6o  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL   MONARCHIES. 


a.     PERSIAN   CIVILIZATION. 

134.  The  Persians  belonged  to  the  same  stock  as  the 
Peraian  char-  Medes,  but  they  seem  to  have  been  even  more 
**=**■■•  purely  Aryan,  —  and  the  terra 'Aryan' is  itself 
a  Persian  word  signifying  twble.  When  we  first  meet  them 
in  history,  they  are  a  race  of  hardy  mountaineers,  brave  in 
war,  rude  in  manners,  simple  in  their  habits,  abstaining  from 
wine,  and  despising  all  the  luxuries  of  food  and  dress. 
Though  not  highly  intellectual,  the  Persians  were  keen- 
witted, vivacious,  an<i  fond  of  poetry  and  art.  Indeed,  they 
seem  in  many  respects  prototypes  of  the  Greeks,  whose 
kinsmen,  through  a  common  Aryan  descent,  they  were. 
They  afterwards  lost  their  noblest  traits  of  character  and 
became  a  servile  Asiatic  race  ;  but  it  was  during  their  hardy, 
virtuous  prime  that  all  their  conquests  were  made. 

135.  As   builders    and    artists,    the    Persians  were  first 

pupils  of  the  Assyrians  and  Babylonians.  The 
magnificent  temples  and  palaces  of  Nineveh 
and  Babylon  had  been  in  existence  many  centuries  before 
the  race  of  Iran  began  to  do  anything  in  art,  a'^d  it  was  not 
till  they  came  in  contact  with  the  Assyrians  and  Babylo- 
nians that  they  commenced  to  erect  noble  structures.  Then, 
however,  they  did  more  than  merely  imitate :  they  adapted, 
so  as  to  make  a  new  architectural  style  of  their  own.  This 
style  may  be  said  to  stand  midway  between  the  solemn  and 
heavy  grandeur  of  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  architecture  and 
the  perfect  beaut}'  of  the  Grecian.  The  great  masterpieces 
of  Persian  building  consist  of  palaces  and  tombs,  —  their 
outdoor  and  simple  worship  requiring  no  imposing  temples. 
The  most  famous  remains  of  Persian  architecture  are  the 
ruins  of  the  royal  palaces  at  Persep'olis.  The  distinguish- 
ing features  of  these  are  the  solid  and  handsome  stone  plat- 
forms, the  noble  staircases  richly  sculptured  in  bas-reliefs, 
and  the  profusion  of  light  and  elegant  stone  columns. 


THE   PERSIAN  EMPIRE.  6 1 

136.  The  Persians  did  very  little  in  the  mechanical  arts. 
It  was  their  boast  that  they  were  soldiers  and 

had  won  by  their  swords  a  position  that  gave 
them  command  of  the  products  and  wares  of  other  nations. 
So  long  as  the  carpets  and  muslins  of  Babylon  and  Sardis, 
the  shawls  of  Cashmere  and  India,  the  fine  linen  of  Egypt, 
and  the  varied  manufactures  of  the  Phoenician  towns  poured 
continually  into  Persia,  it  was  needless  for  the  native  popu- 
lation to  engage  in  manufacturing  industry. 

137.  The  Persians  had  a  much  purer  and  nobler  religion 
than  the  Egyptians,  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  or 
Phoenicians.  They  were  not  idolaters.  In-  ^  'e'°"- 
deed,  in  the  primitive  period  the  main  feature  of  their  re- 
ligion was  the  acknowledgment  and  the  worship  of  a  single 
supreme  God,  —  "  the  Lord  God  of  heaven."  But  this  at 
an  early  date  gave  way  to  the  doctrine  of  the  perpetual 
conflict  of  two  great  First  Principles,  that  of  Light  and 
that  of  Darkness,  personified  under  the  names  of  Aura- 
mazda,  or  Or'mazd,  and  Ahriman'. 

138.  The  Persian  religion  was  further  corrupted  by  the 
intermixture  of   a  system  of   worship   of   the    ^ 

,  1  •    1        1         ■»»-     1  1       1     F'l'e   worship. 

elements,  —  a  system  which  the  Medes  had 
learned  from  the  Scythians,  and  which  ultimately  overlaid 
the  purer  doctrines  of  the  Persians.  The  leading  feature 
was  fire-worship,  or  Magianism  (from  Magi,  the  name  of 
the  priests  of  this  rite).  On  lofty  mountain-spots  fire- 
altars  were  erected,  on  which  burned  a  perpetual  flame, 
watched  constantly  lest  it  should  expire,  and  believed  to 
have  been  kindled  from  heaven.  Here  day  after  day  the 
Magi  chanted  their  incantations,  displayed  their  divining- 
rods,  and  practiced  those  arts  called,  after  them,  magic. 

139.  The  government  of  Persia  as  ruler  over  many  coun- 
tries was  a  great  advance  on  the  theory  of 

,       ,  ,  „    .  ,  .  Government. 

government   of    the   other    Oriental    empires. 

It  was  more  than  a  mere  loosely  joined  congeries  of  king"- 


62 


ANCIENT  ORIENTAL   MONARCHIES. 


doms,  —  it  was  a  real  imperial  dominion.  The  government 
was  upon  the  whole  singularly  mild,  and  by  far  the  noblest 
and  the  best  of  all  the  universal  empires  of  antiquity. 

140.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Persians  had  a  consid- 
erable literature,  but  very  few  fragments  of 
it  have  survived.  The  oldest  literary  monu- 
ment of  the  Iranic  race  is  the  collection  called  the  Zend- 
Avesta,  which  contains  the  sacred  books  of  the  Persians, 
and  which  was  compiled  by  Zoroas'ter,  the  great  religious 
legislator  of  the  Persians.  We  can  form  some  idea  of  an- 
cient Persian  poetry  from  a  poem  called  the  Shah  Nameh, 
an  epic  composed  by  Firdousi,  the  greatest  poet  of  Persia, 
about  the  middle  of  the  loth  century  a.  d.  Though  writ- 
ten at  a  time  long  subsequent  to  the  Persian  greatness,  it 
is  yet  valuable  as  based  on  ancient  traditions  and  frag- 
ments of  song  and  story.  Judging  the  poetical  faculty  of 
the  Persians  by  this  epic,  we  should  say  that  they  were 
distinguished  rather  for  lively  fancy  and  arabesque  con- 
ceits than  for  true  creative  imagination  such  as  distinguished 
the  Greeks,  or  for  the  grand  inspiration  that  breathes 
through  the  productions  of  the  Hebrew  bards  and  prophets. 


Xmb  Tomb  of  Cyrus. 


THE  FEUSIAN-  EMPIRE.  63 


CHRONOLOGIC    SUMMARY. 

B.  C 

The  Medes  under  Cyaxares  overthrow  Assyria  and  become  the 

leading  power  in  Asia 625 

Accession  of  Cyrus  and  supremacy  of  Persia      ....  558 

Subjugation  of  Lydia 554 

Capture  of  Babylon 538 

Accession  of  Cambyses 529 

Conquest  of  Egypt  by  Cambyses 525 

Accession  of  Darius  Hystaspes 521 

Persian  invasion  of  Greece ,        ,  490 


Note  on  Asia  Minor,  —  Lydia.  —  The  peninsula  of  Asia  Minor 
was  occupied  from  very  early  times  by  various  nations ;  but  as  these 
were  of  secondary  importance,  nothing  need  here  be  said  of  their  history 
save  in  the  case  of  Phrygia  and  Lydia. 

It  is  believed  that  the  earliest  dominant  people  of  Asia  Minor  were 
the  Phrygians,  who  at  one  time  occupied  the  whole  of  the  peninsula. 
The  people  were  engaged  in  agriculture  and  commerce.  Their  capital 
was  Gordium,  and  the  kings  were  alternately  Gor'dias  and  Mi'das ; 
but  great  obscurity  rests  on  their  history.  Phrygia  became  a  province 
of  Lydia  in  560  B.  c. 

Lydia  in  the  7th  century  rose  to  be  the  ruling  power  in  Asia  Minor. 
The  last  and  greatest  king  of  this  nation  was  CrcEsus,  who  is  famous  in 
history  for  his  enormous  wealth.  When  Cyrus  on  his  career  of  con- 
quest carried  the  Persian  arms  into  Western  Asia,  Croesus  made  an 
alliance  with  Sparta,  Egypt,  and  Babylon  to  resist  him  ;  but,  as  we  have 
seen,  Cyrus  was  victorious,  Croesus  was  made  prisoner,  and  Lydia  was 
»bsorbed  in  Persia,  554  b.  c. 


64  ANCIEN7'  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 
COMMERCE    OF    THE    ANCIENTS. 

141.  The  three  most  commercial  nations  of  antiquity 
.     .    ,  anterior  to  the  Greeks  were  the  Babylonians. 

Ancient  com-  _    _  -' 

merciai  na-        Phoenicians,  and  Carthaginians.    A  brief  sketch 

tions.  /^ 

of  the  great  routes  of  the  trade  of  these  na- 
tions, together  with  the  leading  articles  of  exchange,  will 
be  found  of  value  in  connection  with  the  interesting  map 
presented  on  the  opposite  page. 

142.  Babylonia,  with  its  admirable  situation,  was  one  of 
Babylonian  the  leading  emporiums  of  ancient  commerce, 
trade.  This  trade  consisted  partly  in  the  exchange  of 
Babylonian  manufactures,  and  partly  in  the  purchase  of 
products  of  the  farther  East. 

143.  Weaving  of  cotton,  woolen  stuffs,  and  carpets  was 
Babylonian  the  principal  manufacture  established  in  Bab- 
manufactures.  ^i^^^  Articles  of  luxury,  such  as  perfumed 
waters,  carved  walking-canes,  engraved  stones  and  seals, 
were  made  in  the  city,  and  the  art  of  cutting  precious  stones 
was  carried  to  the  utmost  perfection.  These  articles  were 
sought  by  all  the  civilized  nations  of  antiquity. 

144.  The  Babylonians  had  an  extensive  commerce  east- 
Trade  routes  ward  with  Persia  and  Northern  India,  whence 
from  Babylon.  ^^^  obtained  gold,  precious  stones,  and  rich 
dye-stuffs.  From  Can'dahar  and  Cashmere  they  procured 
fine  wool,  and  from  the  desert  of  Bactria  (the  modern  Cobi) 
emeralds,  jaspers,  and  other  precious  stones.  The  trade  by 
sea  was  between  the  mouths  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates, 
and  the  western  coasts  of  India  and  the  Island  of  Ceylon. 
From  these  regions  they  imported  timber  of  various  kinds, 
sugar-cane,  spices,  cinnamon,  and  pearls.     At  a  very  early 


COMMERCE   OF   THE   ANCIENTS. 


65 


66  ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 

period  the  Babylonians  formed  commercial  establishments 
on  the  Bahrein  \bd-rdn'\  Islands  in  th-  Persian  Gulf,  whence 
they  obtained  large  quantities  of  the  finest  pearls. 

145.  The  PhcEnicians  were  the  leading  commercial  peo- 
The  Phcjeni-  P^e  of  Asia.  Though  the  textile  fabrics  of  thfe 
'='^"^-  Sidonians  and  the  purple  cloths  of  the  Tyrians 
were  celebrated  from  the  earliest  antiquity,  it  seems  prob- 
able that  the  commerce  of  the  Phoenicians  consisted  more 
in  the  interchange  of  foreign  commodities  than  in  the  ex- 
portation of  their  ow^n  goods. 

146.  The  land  trade  of  the  Phoenicians  may  be  divided 

into  three  great  branches :  the  Arabian,  which 

included  the  Eg}^ptian  and  that  with  the  Indian 

seas  ;  the  Babylonian,  to  which  is  referred  the  commerce  with 

Central  Asia  and  North  India  ;  and  the  Armenian,  including 

the  overland  trade  with  Scythia  and  the  Caucasian  countries. 

147.  From  Ye'men  (Arabia  Felix)  caravans  brought 
Arabia  and  the  through  the  desert  frankincense,  myrrh,  cassia, 
Levant.  gold,  and  precious  stones,  —  the  gold  being 
probably  obtained  from  the  opposite  shores  of  Africa. 
The  greater  part  of  the  Phoenician  trade  w^ith  Egypt  was 
overland.  The  first  branch  of  the  eastern  Phoenician  trade 
was  with  Judaea  and  Syria  proper.  The  dependence  of  the 
Phoenicians  on  Palestine  for  grain  fully  explains  the  cause 
of  their  close  alliance  with  the  Jewish  kingdom. 

148.  But  the  most  important  branch  of  Phoenician  trade 
Eastern  trade  with  the  Orient  was  that  through  Babylon  to 
of  Phcenicia.  ^j^g  interior  of  Asia.  A  considerable  part  of 
the  route  to  Babylon  lay  through  the  Syrian  desert,  and  to 
facilitate  the  passage  of  the  caravans  two  of  the  most  re- 
markable cities  of  the  ancient  world,  Baal'bec  and  Palm/ra, 
were  founded. 

149.  The  Scythian  trade  may  be  very  fairly  considered 

the  same,  in  all  important  particulars,  as  that 
seyt  lan  tra  e.  ^j^-^j^  ^^^  exists  between  Southern  Russia  and 


COMMERCE   OF  THE  ANCIENTS.  6y 

Bokha'ra.  It  was  connected  with  Europe  by  the  Greek 
colonies  on  the  Euxine  (Black)  Sea.  But  the  most  impor- 
tant branch  of  trade  carried  on  through  the  Scythian  terri- 
tories was  the  Indian,  with  which  probably  we  may  connect 
the  Indo-Chinese.  Bactra  and  Marcanda  {Balkh  and  Samar- 
cand')  have  always  been  the  depots  of  an  active  commerce. 
It  is  certain  that  a  portion  of  this  trade  passed  over  the 
Caspian  Sea ;  but  it  is  equally  certain  that  the  greater  por- 
tion of  it  was  conducted  by  caravans,  which  went  round  the 
north  of  the  Caspian,  and  perhaps  of  the  Sea  of  Aral. 

150.  The  northern  land  trade  of  the  Phoenicians  is  de- 
scribed by  the  Prophet  Ezekiel :  "  Tavan  (i.  e. 

X-  11         /-ii  ^       •      \      rr^    ^     1  ^  Northern  tradc. 

Ionia  and  the  Greek  colonies),  Tubal,  and 
Meshech  (i.  e.  the  countries  round  the  Black  and  the  Cas- 
pian Seas),  they  were  thy  merchants :  they  traded  the  per- 
sons of  men  and  vessels  of  brass  in  thy  markets.  They 
of  the  house  of  Togar'mah  (i.  e.  Armenia  and  Cappadocia) 
traded  in  thy  fairs  with  horses  and  horsemen  and  mules."* 

151.  The  Mediterranean  Sea  was,  however,  the  great  high- 
road of  Phoenician  commerce.      Spain  was,  in   „. 

^  '  PncEtiicians  in 

respect  to  precious  metals,  the  richest  country  the  Mediter- 
of  the  ancient  world  ;  and  here  this  pushing 
people  early  formed  stations.  "  Tar'shish  (i.  e.  Tartes'sus,  or 
Southwestern  Spain)  was  thy  merchant  by  reason  of  the 
multitude  of  all  kinds  of  riches ;  with  silver,  iron,  tin,  and 
lead  they  traded  in  thy  fairs."  f  From  Spain  the  Phoenicians 
entered  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  proceeded  to  the  south  of 
the  British  Isles,  where  they  procured  the  tin  of  Cornwall, 
and  probably  to  the  coast  of  Prussia,  for  the  greatly  es- 
teemed amber.  In  the  eastern  seas  they  had  establish- 
ments on  the  Arabian  and  the  Persian  Gulfs,  whence  they 
traded  with  the  coasts  of  India  and  Africa  and  the  Island 
of  Ceylon.     During  the  reign  of  Pharaoh  Necho,  King  of 

*  Ezekiel  xxvii.  13,  14. 
t  Ibid.,  12. 


68  ANCIEN7    ORIENTAL   MONARCHIES. 


Egypt,  they  discovered  the  passage  round  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope ;  but  this  led  to  no  important  result,  on  ac- 
count of  the  calamities  that  Tyre  endured  from  the  con- 
quest by  the  Babylonians  in  the  6th  century. 

152.  The  commerce  of  Carthage  was  carried  on  both 

by   land    and    sea.      Her   own    manufactures 
included   fine    cloths,  haidware,  pottery,  and 
leather  harness.     The  principal  land  trade  of  the  Cartha- 
ginians was  by  caravans  with  the  barbarous  tribes  of  Central 
Africa,  the  chief  imports  being  negro-slaves  and  gold-dust. 

153.  In  the  western  Mediterranean  their  chief  trade  was 
Western  Med-  with  the  Greek  colonies  in  Sicily  and  the  south 
iterranean.  q£  j^^j^  (from  which  they  obtained  wine  and 
oil  in  exchange  for  negro-slaves,  precious  stones,  and  gold, 
and  for  cotton  cloths  manufactured  at  Carthage),  and  also 
with  Spain,  the  El  Dorado  of  antiquity.  In  fact,  the  Car- 
thaginians possessed  almost  exclusively  the  carrying  trade 
between  the  nations  of  Africa  and  those  of  Western  Europe. 
Beyond  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar  the  Carthaginians  succeeded 
the  Phoenicians  in  the  tin  and  amber  trade  with  the  British 
Isles  and  the  shores  of  the  Baltic. 

154.  On  the  west  coast  of  Africa  the  Carthaginian  colo- 

nies studded  the  shores  of  Morocco  and  Fez  : 

African  trade.  i        x   i         i       r  .^      /        * 

but  their  great  mart  was  the  Island  of  Cer  ne  * 
(now  Suana),  the  principal  depot  of  merchandise,  whence 
goods  were  transported  in  light  barks  to  the  opposite  coast. 
Here  the  Carthaginian  exports  were  trinkets,  saddlery,  cot- 
ton goods,  pottery,  and  arms,  for  which  they  received  hides 
and  ivory.  There  is  also  every  reason  to  believe  that  these 
enterprising  merchants  had  some  intercourse  with  the  coast 
of  Guinea,  and  that  their  navigators  advanced  beyond  the 
mouths  of  the  Sen'egal  and  Gambia. 

*  Hanno  in  the  year  570  b.  c.  conducted  sixty  ships,  bearing  30,000 
colonists,  to  the  western  shores  of  Africa,  where  he  planted  a  chain  of 
six  colonies  between  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar  and  the  Island  of  Cerne. 


ANALYTIC  SYNOPSIS. 


69- 


ANALYTIC    SYNOPSIS   FOR   REVIEW. 
I.    Nations  treated  of. 

We  have  considered  the  history  of  the  following  ancient  Orieotal 
nations :  — 

The  Egyptians. 
OrientalNations    IJ^  Assyrians  and  Babylonians. 

OF  ANTIQUITY...  J  I^^^,^^'-^^^^- 

The  Phoenicians. 
The  Hindoos. 
The  Persians. 


II.  Classification  of  Races. 

These  nations  may  be  classed  in  three  races,  —  the  Aryan,  or 
Indo-European,  the  Semitic,  and  the  Hamitic,  as  follows  : 

Aryan  Race J  Hindoos. 

I  Persians. 

(Assyrians. 
Phoenicians. 
Hebrews. 

Hamitic  Race.  ...  i  Egyptians. 

\Chald3eans  (early  Babylonians). 

III.  Place  in  History. 

Summing  up  what  we  have  learned  respecting  the  part  played  by 
the  several  ancient  Oriental  nations,  we  may  mark  the  follow- 
ing characteristics :  — 

Leading  representative  of  the  Hamitic  stock,  — 
developed  apart,  —  were  not  a  conquering  or  aggres* 
sive  race,  —  had  a  marvelous  building  instinct,  —  at- 
•  •  \  tained  a  considerable  advancement  in  many  of  the 
mechanical  arts,  and  had  some  knowledge  of  certain 
sciences,  especially  astronomy  and  geometry,  — marked 
_  by  the  stationary  character  of  their  civilization. 

1<  Seem  to  have  been  a  Hamitic  stock  allied  to  the 
Egyptians,  —  had  building  instincts  similar  to  the 
Egyptians,  — cultivated  astronomy  with  much  success, 
—  their  civilization  of  a  materialistic  character. 


Egyptians 


CHALDiEANS 


70 


ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 


Assyrians 


Hindoos 


Hebrews  . 


Phcenicians  . . 


I*XKSIANS. 


Babylonians. 

\Laitr  kingdom.] 


Were  probably  almost  pure  Semites,  —  were  a  con- 
quering race,  and  became,  previous  to  Persia,  the  great 
imperial  power  of  Asia,  ruling  not  only  all  the  Meso- 
potamian  countries,  but  also  Media,  Syria  proper,  Phoe- 
nicia, Palestine,  part  of  Arabia,  and  nearly  all  Egypt, 

—  in  the  fine  arts  excelled  particularly  in  sculpture. 
As  a  political  power  ruled  for  only  the  brief  period 

of  eighty-seven  years,  from  the  destruction  of  the 
Assyrian  power  to  the  conquest  by  the  Persians 
under  Cyrus  (625-538  B.C.),  but  were  for  many  cen- 
turies, while  under  Assyrian  rule,  an  important  peo- 
ple, —  made  marked  advances  in  commerce,  manufac- 
tures, and  the  practical  arts. 

A  nation  of  pure  Aryan  stock,  but  remarkable  as  a 
thoroughly  unworldly  race,  devoting  themselves  large- 
ly to  contemplation  and  mystic  speculations,  —  have  left 
a  rich  and  remarkable  literature  written  in  Sanscrit, 
the  oldest  of  the  Indo-European  tongues, — had  but 
little  influence  on  the  political  history  of  the  world, 
and  indeed  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  a  place  in  his= 
toric  annals  till  the  conquest  of  India  by  Alexander, 
326  B.  C. 

A  "peculiar  people,"  playing  a  peculiar  part  in  his- 
tory,—  had  very  little  influence  on  the  political  his- 
tory of  antiquity,  but  have  affected  all  the  world 
through  religion  (monotheism),  —  have  left  as  their 
great  legacy  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  —  not  an  artistic 
people,  —  were  a  pure  Semitic  race. 

Like  the  Hebrews,  were  Semites,  —  pre-eminently 
the  traders  and  colonizers  of  antiquity,  —  the  only 
Asiatic  people  that  planted  colonies  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean shores  of  Europe  and  Africa,  —  left  a  price° 
less  legacy  in  the  Phoenician  alphabet. 

Were  pure  Aryans,  — made  the  nearest  approach  to 
European  civilization  of  any  Oriental  nation,  —  had 
the  best  idea  of  political  organization  possessed  by 
any  Asiatic  race, — were  a  conquering  people,  and  be- 
came the  great  imperial  power  in  Asia  from  the  time 
of  Cyrus  to  the  conquest  by  Alexander  (558-331  B.C.), 

—  attained  eminence  in  art,  especially  architecture 
and  sculpture. 


ANALYTIC  SYNOPSIS. 


71 


IV.   Chronologic  Summary. 

The  following  are  the  most  important  dates  under  each  nation  :  — 

B.  c. 

(Beginning  of  authentic  history  in  Dynasty  of 
Pyramid-builders  (Fourth),  25th  century        .     2450 
Conquered  by  Persians,  6th  century     .         .  525 

Conquered  by  Romans,  ist  century  ...         30 

Chald^a f  First  authentic  date,  23d  century  .         .         .         2234 

[Early Babylonia.^  |  Absorption  in  Assyria        .         .         .        (about)  1250 

Assyria  j  Becomes  a  great  power  absorbing  Babylon  (about)  1250 
\  Fall  of  Nineveh  and  overthrow  of  Assyria         .      625 

(Era  of  Nabonassar         ..... 
Revival  of  independence  under  Nabopolassar   . 
Capture  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus,  and  overthrow  of 
Babylonian  kingdom 

(Immigration  of  Brahminic  Aryans  into  the  In- 
dus Valley (about)  3000 
Alexander's  expedition  into  India         .         .  326 

Migration  of  Abraham        .         .         .        (about) 


Babylonia. 


India 


Palestine. 


Phcenicia. 


Persia. 


747 
625 

538 


Exodus  from  Egypt 

Accession  of  Solomon        ..... 

Division  of  Solomon's  Empire  into  the  King- 
dom of  Israel  and  Kingdom  of  Judah     . 

Destruction  of  the  Kingdom  of  Israel  by  the 
Assyrians,  and  captivity  of  the  Israelites 

Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar     . 

Return  from  the  captivity 

.  Absorption  by  Rome     ..... 

Tyre  becomes  leading  city-state  of  Phoenicia 

Phcenicia  conquered  by  the  Assyrians  . 

Foundation  of  the  colony  of  Carthage     . 

Tyre  captured  by  Alexander  the  Great . 
l  Phcenicia  conquered  by  the  Romans 
'  Foundation  of  the  Persian  monarchy  by  Cyrus 

Cambyses  becomes  king    ..... 

Darius  I.  (Hystaspes),  who  organized  the  Per- 
sian Empire,  becomes  king     .... 

Xerxes  becomes  king 

Overthrow   of  Persian  Empire  by  Alexander 


1920 
1320 
1015 


975 

721 

586 

536 

63 

1050 

(about)  870 

850 

332 

63^ 

558 
529 

521 
486 


ANCIENT  ORIENTAL  MONARCHIES. 


V.    General  Summary. 

The  following  may  serve  as  a  general  summing  up  of  the  philoso- 
phy of  Oriental  history  :  — 
The  great  feature  of  all  the  Oriental  nations  was  their  unprogressive 
character.  In  Asia  there  came  into  being  a  number  of  vast  empires, 
but  as  these  were  despotisms,  as  the  social  state  of  the  people  was 
fixed  in  castes,  and  as  the  people  themselves  were  reduced  to  a  low  level 
by  polygamy,  the  power  of  man  could  not  find  free  play :  hence,  though 
the  ancient  Eastern  nations  reached  a  considerable  advancement  in 
civilization,  their  civilization  was  of  a  stationary  character.  Asia  was 
the  land  of  births  and  beginnings,  and  played  indeed  a  wondrous  part 
in  the  history  of  our  race  ;  but  when  in  the  order  of  Divine  Providence 
her  appointed  task  was  completed,  it  was  given  to  other  lands  and  other 
peoples  to  carry  forward  the  great  work  of  humanity;  and  we  shall  find 
that  with  the  Aryan  race  on  the  free  soil  of  Europe  first  comes  true 
progress. 


T^".r  ^• 


i-a*      trd^Af/?yft^ 


GENERAL   SKETCH. 


n 


SECTION    II. 
HISTORY     OF     GREECE. 

CHAPTER   I. 
GENERAL     SKETCH. 


T^;e  Parthenon  restored. 


I.  We  are  now  to  begin  the  fiistory  of  the  two  great 
European  nations  of  antiquity,  Greece  and  contrast  of 
Rome,  — the  history  "of  the  glory  that  was  ^uropfiif hu- 
Greece,  and  the  grandeur  that  was  Rome."  *°'"y- 
The  story  of  these  nations  fills  the  whole  period  between 
about  the  year  looo  B.  c.  and  the  downfall  of  the  Western 
Roman  Empire,  476  a.  d.  Between  the  history  of  these  na- 
tions and  that  of  the  ancient  Oriental  empires  we  shall  find 
a  marked  contrast.  The  Orient  presents  to  view  a  series 
of  vast  overshadowing  despotisms  under  which  the  spirit 


74  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

of  individual  freedom  was  completely  crushed.  That  spirit 
first  finds  play  in  Europe,  where  we  shall  see  the  rights  of 
man  asserting  themselves  and  taking  embodiment  in  free> 
self-governing  states.  The  history  of  the  Orient  is  the  his- 
tory of  dynasties ;  the  history  of  Greece  and  Rome  is  the 
history  of  the  people ;  and  accordingly  the  latter  is  far  more 
interesting,  more  instructive,  and  more  valuable. 

2.    The  Greeks  were  a  branch  of  the  mighty  Aryan,  or 
Indo-European,  stock,  —  the  stock  that  includes 

Greek  race.  ^  '  ' 

all  the  historic  races  of  Europe,  together  with 
the  Persians  and  Hindoos  of  Asia.  As  Ar}^ans,  they  were 
closely  related  to  the  Romans  ;  and,  in  fact,  the  forefa- 
thers of  the  Greeks  and  of  the  Italians  formed  originally 
one  swarm,  which  at  a  very  early  period  in  prehistoric 
times  (not  later  than  2000  B.  c.)  left  the  native  hive  of  the 
Aryans,  in  Asia,  and  moved  into  Europe.  The  evidence  of 
language  shows  that  this  stock  must  have  kept  together  for 
a  considerable  period  after  they  had  parted  company  from 
the  other  members  of  the  Aryan  family,  and  before  they 
settled,  the  one  branch  in  the  eastern  and  the  other  in  the 
central  of  the  three  Mediterranean  peninsulas,  where  they 

MAP  STUDY. 

[See  Map  opposite  p.  73.] 

I.  What  were  the  boundaries  of  Continental  Greece  ?  2.  What  sea 
between  Greece  and  Italy.'  3.  What  isthmus  connects  the  Pelopon- 
nesus with  the  mainland.''  4.  What  gulfs  on  opposite  sides  of  this? 
5.  What  is  the  situation  of  the  Pindus  range  ?  6.  They  divided  what 
states .'  7.  Tell  the  situation  of  the  Qita  Mountains,  of  Olympus,  of 
Parnassus.  8.  What  was  the  situation  of  Macedon,  of  Attica,  of  Laco- 
nia?  9.  Where  was  the  state  of  Bceotia?  10.  Was  Attica  a  seaboard 
or  an  inland  state  ?  11.  Was  Lacedasmon  an  inland  or  a  seaboard  state  } 
12.  What  rivers  are  named  on  the  map  ?  13.  What  large  island  off  the 
east  coast?  14.  Where  were  the  Cyclades  and  Sporades?  15.  Where 
were  the  Chersonesus  (map  opp.  p.  1^3),  CyrenaJca,  Hellespont,  Thrace, 
Asia  Minor  ?  16.  W^here  were  Athens,  Sparta,  Thebes,  Argos,  Delphi, 
Corinth,  Plataea,  Marathon,  Miletus,  Sardis,  the  Pass  of  Thermopylae  ? 


GENERAL  SKETCH.  75 

subsequently  appeared  in  history,  the  first  branch  as  Greeks, 
the  second  as  Romans. 

3.  Greece  was  a  name  almost   unknown  by  the  people 
whom  we  call  Greeks,  and  was  never  used  by   „  ,, 

'  -     •'      Hellas. 

them  to  describe  their  country.  It  was  first 
adopted  by  the  Romans,  from  whom  it  has  descended  to  us. 
The  name  by  which  the  Greeks  always  called  their  country 
is  Hel'las.  This  term,  however,  included  more  than  is  now 
covered  by  the  term  Greece ;  for  it  comprised  not  only  the 
adjacent  islands,  but  also  numerous  patches  of  settlement, 
around  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Hellas,  in  fact,  denoted 
wherever  the  Helk'nes,  or  Greeks,  were  settled. 

4.  In  the  geography  of  Greece  there  are  two  important 
facts  to  be  noticed :  i.  That  Hellas  is  a  land   Physical  fea- 
of  islands  and   peninsulas,  deeply  perforated  ^"■■^^• 

by  bays  and  inlets  of  the  Mediterranean.  This  fact  is  one 
of  the  main  reasons  why  the  Greeks  were  the  earliest  civil- 
ized people  of  Europe,  since  their  situation  on  the  sea-coast 
brought  them  into  contact  with  those  older  civilizations 
whose  seats  were  on  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  especially  with  Egypt  and  Phoenicia.  2.  That 
the  surface  of  the  country  is  ridged  by  numerous  mountains, 
which  divided  Greece  into  a  multitude  of  small,  isolated 
regions.  This  fact  favored  the  establishment  of  numerous 
separate  and  independent  states  or  communities  ;  and  it  was 
in  these  little  states  that,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  political  freedom  was  attained  by  man. 

5.  Greece  proper  is  a  peninsula  about  250  miles  lonj 
and   180  miles  across  in  its  widest  part.     It   -^^^^^^ 

has  an  area  about  the  same  as  that  of  the 
State  of  Maine. 

6.  The  natural  division  of  Greece  is  into  Northern,  Cen- 
tral, and  Southern.     Northern  Greece  extends   ^.  .  . 

.         Divisions. 

from   the   north   boundary  line   to  the   point 

where  the  eastern  and  western  shores  are  respectively  in- 


>](>  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

dented  by  the  Gulfs  of  Ma'lis  and  Ambra'cia,  or  Ac'tium. 
Central  Greece  reaches  from  this  point  to  the  Isthmus  of 
Corinth.  Southern  Greece  is  identical  with  the  Pelopon- 
ne'sus,  called  in  modern  geography  the  More'a. 

7.  Northern  Greece  contained  in  ancient  times  two  prin- 
Northern  di-  cipal  countrics,  Thcs'saly  and  Epi'rus.  To  the 
vision.  north  of  these  was  Macedo'nia,  which,  though 
ruled  by  kings  of  Hellenic  blood,  was  never  counted  to  be 
part  of  Greece  till  quite  late  times. 

8.  Central  Greece  contained  eleven  states.*     The  most 

important  of  these  was  Attica,  which  is  the 

Central  states.     -,,  .,  .        .         ^  t-.- 

foreland  or  penmsula  projecting  from  Boeotia 
to  the  southeast.  Its  length  was  70  miles,  its  greatest  width 
30  miles.  The  general  character  of  this  region  was  moun- 
tainous and  infertile.  In  Attica  was  Athens,  the  foremost 
city  of  all  Greece. 

9.  Southern    Greece,    or   the    Peloponnesus,    contained 

seven  principal  states.*     The  most  important 

Peloponnesus.        r    i  i  t  • 

of  the  southern  states  was  Laconia,  sometimes 
called  Lacedae'mon,  of  which  the  capital  and  most  im- 
portant city  was  Sparta. 

10.  The  "  isles  of  Greece  "  formed  a  very  considerable 

and  noted  part  of  ancient  Hellas.     The  largest 

The  isles.  ,      ,  .   ,         i  t-    i       ,  -i 

of  the  coast  islands  was  Euboe'a,  100  miles 
long.  Off  the  west  coast  was  the  important  island  of  Cor 
cy'ra.  Off  the  southern  coast  was  Crete,  150  miles  in  length. 
The  ^gae'an  sea  was  studded  with  numerous  islands,  of 
which  the  two  groups  of  the  Cyc'lades  and  Spor'ades  ex- 
tended in  a  continuous  series,  like  a  set  of  stepping-stones, 
across  from  Greece  to  Asia. 

11.  It  is  probable  that  various  tribes  of  the  Aryan  stock 

had  penetrated  into  the  Greek   peninsula  as 
*  "^"  early  as  2000  b.  c.     In  the  ante-Hellenic  pe- 

•  Name  these  states  from  the  map,  opposite  page  72. 


GENERAL   SKETCH. 


71 


riod,  that  is,  in  the  prehistoric  age,  we  hear  of  the  Pelas'gi, 
who  seem  to  have  been  an  Aryan  race.  They  were  civilized 
enough  to  till  the  earth  and  to  build  walled  cities.  To 
them  are  attributed  the  remains  of  certain  ancient  monu- 
ments known  as  Pelasgic,  or  Cyclopean,  remains.  These 
consist  of  tombs  and  of  walls  composed  of  enormous  rude 
masses  of  stone  joined  to  one  another  without  cement. 

12.  At  a  period  long  before  the  beginning  of  recorded 
history  the  Pelasgi  were  overwhelmed  by  an 
invasion  of  a  more  vigorous  and  warlike  race, 
the  Hellenes,  who,  descending  from  Thessaly,  entirely  over- 
spread the  peninsula  and  gave  their  name  to  the  whole 
country.  There  were  four  chief  divisions  of  the  Hellenes, 
—  the  Do'rians,  ^o'lians,  Achte'ans,  and  lo'nians. 


yS  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

The  ^olians  were  spread  over  Northern  Greece  and  the  western  coast 
of  the  Peloponnesus  ;  the  Achaeans  held  the  southern  and  eastern  part  of 
the  Peloponnesus  (the  Arcadians,  a  remnant  of  the  older  Pelasgic  race, 
occupying  the  center) ;  the  lonians  were  confined  to  a  narrow  strip  of 
country  along  the  northern  coast  of  the  Peloponnesus  and  eastward  into 
Attica;  the  Dorians  were  to  the  north,  and  occupied  the  southern  slope 
of  Mount  CEta.  Such  appears  to  have  been  the  distribution  of  the  races 
in  the  age  represented  by  the  Homeric  poems. 

13.  The  Greeks  of  this  age  have  no  history,  in  the  proper 

sense  of  the  word.  The  place  of  this  they 
"  supplied  by  a  mass  of  beautiful  legends,  called 
by  themselves  myths.  These  recount  the  exploits  of  various 
heroes,  and  hence  this  period  is  called  the  Heroic  Age.  It 
is  vain  to  attempt  to  separate  the  thread  of  historic  truth 
which  there  may  be  in  the  body  of  Greek  legends :  to  do  so 
is  only  to  "  spoil  a  good  poem  without  making  a  good  his- 
tory." 

14.  The  last  and  greatest  enterprise  of  the  heroic  age 
,„  was  the  Siesre  of  Troy.    This  was  immortalized 

Siege  of  Troy.  ''  ■' 

by  the  genius  of  Homer  in  his  Iliad  (from 
Ilium,  or  Troy) ;  and  recent  explorations  on  the  site  of  Troy 
give  reason  to  believe  that  the  narrative  of  Homer  rests  on  a 
basis  of  actual  fact.  The  outline  of  the  story  is  as  follows : 
Paris,  son  of  Priam,  king  of  Troy,  abused  the  hospitality  of 
Menela'us,  king  of  Sparta,  by  carrying  off  his  wife  Helen, 
the  most  beautiful  woman  of  the  age.  At  the  call  of  Mene- 
laus  all  the  Grecian  princes  assembled  in  arms,  elected  his 
brother  Agamem'non  leader  of  the  expedition,  and  sailed 
across  the  yEgasan  to  recover  the  faithless  fair  one.  Nearly 
all  Asia  Minor  was  leagued  with  Troy,  and  the  most  valiant 
Trojan  leader  was  Hector,  son  of  Priam.  It  was  not  till  the 
tenth  year  that  Troy  yielded,  and  it  is  with  the  even'-s  of 
this  year  that  the  Iliad  deals. 

15.  Achil'les,  the  bravest  and  most  redoubtable  of  the 

Greeks,    offended    by   Agamemnon,    abstains 
from  the  war ;  and  in  his  absence  the  Greeks 


GENERAL  SKETCH.  79 

are  no  match  for  Hector.  The  Trojans  drive  them  back 
into  their  camp,  and  are  already  setting  fire  to  tlieir  ships 
when  Achilles  gives  his  armor  to  his  friend  Patro'clus,  and 
allows  him  to  charge  at  the  head  of  the  Myrmidons.  Patro- 
clus  repulses  the  Trojans  from  the  ships,  but  the  god  Apollo 
is  against  him,  and  he  falls  under  the  spear  of  Hector.  This 
causes  Achilles  to  return  into  the  Grecian  camp,  and  he 
slays  Hector  in  single  combat ;  but  is  himself  killed  by  an 
arrow  directed  by  Apollo.  Finally,  the  noblest  combatants 
on  both  sides  having  fallen,  the  city  is  taken  by  the  Greeks, 
through  the  stratagem  of  a  wooden  horse,  devised  by  the 
crafty  Ulys'ses.  Troy  is  delivered  over  to  the  sword,  and  its 
glory  sinks  in  ashes.* 

16.  The  most  faithful  reflex  of  the  springtime  of  the  Hel- 
lenic world  is  preserved  to  us  in  the  Homeric  Homeric 
poems,  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey.  Among  the  Greece, 
noticeable  features  of  society,  as  there  depicted,  are :  i.  The 
universality  of  kingly  government.  2.  The  predominance  of 
the  tribe  or  nation  over  the  city,  whereas  in  the  historical 
period  the  city  is  the  state.  3.  The  existence  of  a  hereditary 
nobility,  who  form  the  king's  council.  4.  The  existence  of 
an  assembly  which  is  convened  by  the  king  to  receive  com- 
munications and  witness  trials,  but  not  either  to  advise  or 
judge.  5.  The  absence  of  polygamy,  and  the  high  regard 
in  which  women  are  held.  6.  Slavery  everywhere  estab- 
lished and  considered  to  be  right.  7.  Perpetual  wars  be- 
tween the  various  tribes  and  nations,  and  the  preference  of 
the  military  virtues  over  all  others.  8.  Strong  religious 
feeling ;  belief  in  polytheism  and  in  fate ;  respect  for  the 
priestly  character ;  peculiar  sanctity  of  temples  and  festival 
seasons. 

17.  According  to  the  traditions  of  the  Greeks,  some  \mr 
portznt  foreign  elements  were  received  into  the  Foreign  influx 
nation  during  this  first  period.     It  is  said  that  *"'^®- 

*  See  note,  end  of  this  chapter. 


So  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


both  Phoenician  and  Egyptian  settlements  were  made  in 
Greece.  Scholars  now  doubt  that  any  such  settlements  were 
made ;  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  early  Greeks,  when 
they  began  to  spread  over  the  Grecian  isles,  came  in  con- 
tact with  the  Phoenicians,  who  were  at  this  period  the  most 
commercial  and  progressive  nation  inhabiting  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean.  From  the  Phoenicians  the  Greeks 
received  the  alphabet.  It  is  probable,  also,  that  the  early 
Greeks  drew  from  the  fountains  of  antique  Egyptian  lore, 
and  that  they  gained  from  the  Egyptians  their  first  knowl- 
edge  of  some  of  the  arts  and  sciences ;  while  the  influence 
of  the  Eg}'ptian  religious  system  can  be  plainly  traced  in  the 
Greek  mythology. 

l8.  But,  on  the  whole,  Hellenic  civilization  was  of  home 
Greek  civiiiza-  growth.  Evcn  what  thcv  took  they  stamped 
tion  original.     ^^,j^|^  ^|^gjj.  ^^^^  character.     Hence   the  Greek 

people  must  be  considered  to  have  developed  for  themselves 
that  form  of  civilization,  and  those  ideas  on  the  subject  of 
art,  politics,  morals,  and  religion,  that  have  given  them  their 
peculiar  reputation. 


Note  on  Troy.  —  In  the  revolutions  of  time  the  city  of  Troy  has  so 
completely  disappeared  that  many  scholars  have  been  disposed  to  doubt 
even  the  existence  of  such  a  place.  But  in  recent  times  fresh  light  seems 
to  have  been  thrown  on  the  subject  by  the  researches  of  Dr.  Schliemann, 
a  German  savtmt,  who  in  the  years  1869-73  made  a  series  of  explorations 
in  the  Troad,  or  "  plain  of  windy  Troy."  He  identifies  the  city  of  Ilium, 
or  Troy,  with  the  modern  place  called  Hissarlik.  Many  interesting 
archseologic  remains  were  discovered  by  the  explorer,  who  also  states 
his  belief  that  he  could  identify  in  the  ruins  the  "  house  of  Priam,"  the 
Scsean  gate,  and  various  other  points  mentioned  by  Homer.  Many 
scholars  are  not  prepared  to  accept  all  the  conclusions  of  Dr.  Schlie- 
mann ;  but  all  agree  that  his  discoveries  are  of  great  interest,  and  furnish 
new  illustrations  of  the  "  tale  of  Troy  divine." 


BEGINNINGS  OF  GREEK  HISTORY.  8l 


CHAPTER    II. 
HISTORY   OF   THE   FIRST   PERIOD. 

ftROM    THE  DORIAN  MIGRA  TION  TO  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  PERSIAN  tVAKit 
1100  soo  B.  C. 

I.    BEGINNINGS   OF   GREEK   HISTORY. 

19.  Grecian  history  may  be  divided  into  three  periods : 

1.  From  the  Dorian  migration   to  the  begin-    Periods  of 
ning  of  the   Persian  Wars  (1100-500  B.C.).    G^-^^k  history. 

2.  From  the  beginning  of  the  Persian  Wars  to  the  subju- 
gation of  Greece  by  Philip  of  Macedon  (500-338   b.  c). 

3.  From  the  subjugation  of  Greece  by  PhiHp  to  the  Roman 
conquest  (338-  146  b.  c). 

20.  Leaving  the  dim  twilight  of  legendary  Greece,  we 
come  to  a  period  when  there  took  place  those  period  of  set- 
movements  of  tribes  that  finally  resulted  in  Element, 
settling  the  Hellenes  in  those  parts  of  Hellas  in  which  we 
find  them  during  the  times  of  authentic  history.  Thus 
there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  about  the  year  11 00  b.  c. 
the  Dorians,  who  originally  had  been  an  unimportant  tribe 
in  the  small  patch  of  northern  territory  on  the  southern 
slope  of  Mount  CEta,  began  to  make  a  great  figure  in  Greek 
affairs;  for  moving  southward  they  conquered  the  Achaean 
kingdoms  in  the  Peloponnesus,  took  possession  of  Laconia, 
or  Lacedcemon,  and  gradually  subdued  most  of  the  neigh- 
boring states. 

21.  Out  of  the  Dorian  conquest  of  the  Peloponnesus  re- 
sulted  other  great   changes   in   the    Hellenic   other  move- 
world.    The  Achaeans,  expelled  from  the  south   "'^"^s. 

and  east  of  the  peninsula,  fell  back  upon  the  northern  coast, 
driving  out  the  lonians.  The  latter  found  refuge  with  their 
brethren  of  the  same  race  in  Attica,  and  the  lonians  became 

4*  F 


82  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

not  only  the  dominant  race  in  Central  Greece,  but  also 
spread  themselves  over  most  of  the  Cyclades  Islands  in  the 
-^gaean  Sea. 

22.  The  planting  of  Greek  colonies  in  Asia  Minor  was 
Colonies  in  another  important  event  of  this  early  period, 
Asia  Minor.  connected  with  the  general  unsettlement  result- 
ing from  the  Dorian  conquest.  These  colonies  were  made 
by  the  three  races,  the  Cohans,  lonians,  and  Dorians.  The 
^olians  established  themselves  along  the  coast  of  Mysia 
and  in  the  Island  of  Les'bos,  where  they  formed  a  confedera- 
tion of  twelve  cities  (^'olis).  The  lonians  established 
themselves  on  the  shores  of  Lydia,  and  on  the  islands  of 
Chi'os  and  Sa'mos  (lo'nia),  and  grew  into  a  very  powerful 
confederation.  The  Dorian  colonies  were  planted  in  the 
southwestern  corner  of  Asia  Minor  and  the  adjacent  islands 
(Do'ris)  ;  but  they  were  of  less  importance  than  the  ^olian, 
and  especially  the  Ionian,  settlements,  which  became  of 
great  note  in  Grecian  histor}\ 

23.  Other  settlements  were  made  by  the  Greeks,  of  which 
Other  settle-  the  most  notable  were  those  on  the  coasts  of 
ments.  Thrace  and  Macedonia,  on  the  islands  west 
of  Greece,  in  Sicily,  in  Lower  Italy  (hence  called  Mag'na 
Grae'cia,  or  Great  Greece),*  and  in  the  territory  of  Cyre'ne, 
or  the  Cyrenaica,  along  the  northern  coast  of  Africa.  Some 
outposts  of  Hellenic  settlement  were  planted  as  far  east  as 
the  shores  of  the  Euxine  Sea,  and  one  colony  arose  in  the 
extreme  western  part  of  the  Mediterranean  at  Massilia,  now 
Marseilles. 

24.  The  establishment  of  so  many  colonies  in  countries 
Effect  of  coio-  pre-eminently  favored  by  nature  in  productions 
"'^^-  and  climate,  and  so  situated  as  to  prompt  the 
inhabitants  to  navigation  and  commerce,  gave  a  great  im- 
pulse to  the  civilization  of  the  Hellenic  race,  and  may  be 
regarded  as  the  main  cause  of  its  rapid  progress. 

*  See  map  opposite  page  72. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  GREEK  HISTORY. 


83 


25.    The  accompanying  map  represents  the  distribution 
of  the  several  representatives  of  the  Hellenic 
race,  at  the  time  when  the  great  movements 
of  population  just  spoken  of  had  been  accomplished  (say 
about  1000  B.  c). 


26.    At  this  time  the  two  leading  races  of  Greece  were 
the  lonians  and  the  Dorians.     These  were  dis-  „^ 

Character  of 

tmguished  from  each  other  by  striking  charac-  the  two  lead- 
teristics,  and  the  difference  between  them  '"^'^**^^^' 
forms  a  chief  feature  of  Grecian  politics ;  it  runs  through 
their  entire  history,  and  was  the  principal  cause  of  the  deep- 
rooted  antagonism  between  Athens,  the  representative  of 
the  Ionian  race,  and  Sparta,  the  leading  Doric  state.  The 
lonians  were  remarkable  for  their  democratic  spirit ;  they 


{$4  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

were  vivacious,  fickle,  given  to  commerce,  fond  of  refined 
enjoyments,  and  devoted  to  the  fine  arts.  The  Dorian  race 
was  noted  for  the  severe  simplicity  of  its  manners  ;  it  pre- 
ferred an  aristocratic  form  of  government,  and  maintained 
slaveiy  in  its  worst  form. 

27.  The  authentic  history  of  Greece  commences  with  the 
Beginnings  of  cpoch  Icnown  as  the  First  Olym'piad,  B.  c.  776. 
real  history.  'pj^jg  gj-g^  jg  ^^  commencement  of  that  consec- 
utive chronology,  which  the  Greeks  reckoned  by  the  series 
of  victors  in  the  foot-race  at  the  four-yearly  festival  of 
Olympian  Jupiter  near  E'lis.  The  First  Olympiad  began  in 
the  midsummer  of  776  b.  c.  ;  the  Second  Olympiad  in  mid- 
summer of  772  B.  c,  etc.,  —  the  Olympiads  recurring  every 
four  years. 

28.  Looking  at  Greece  at  this  period,  —  say  the  middle  of 
Political  the  8th  century  b.  c,  —  we  find  that  an  impor- 
change.  ^^^^  change  in  the  nature  of  the  government 
had  taken  place.  During  the  heroic  age,  in  that  "  youth  of 
the  world  "  which  Homer  paints,  the  various  Grecian  tribes 
were  under  kings  ;  but  now  the  government  had  become 
republican,  and  we  find  the  people  gathered  together  in 
little  free  states.  (Sparta  was  the  only  state  that  held 
to  even  the  name  of  king.)  Each  city,  in  fact,  formed  an 
independent  commonwealth  with  its  own  little  territory ; 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  parceling  out  of  a  small 
country  was  a  main  cause  of  the  rapid  development  of 
political  science  in  Greece. 

29.  Divided   as  the  Greeks  were  politically,  they  were, 

nevertheless,  united  by  a  certain  national  feel- 

Hellenic  unity.    .  _,,  ^     ,  •  i 

ing.  The  root  of  this  was  the  consciousness 
that  they  were  all  Hellenes  ;  and  this  sentiment  was  fostered 
by  the  possession  of  a  common  language,  literature,  and  re- 
ligion, and  of  rites,  temples,  and  festivals  that  were  equally 
open  to  all.  Still,  the  first  feeling  of  every  Greek  was  for 
his  city,  and  there  was  scarcely  even  the  sentiment  of  patri- 


SPARTA   AND  ATHENS.  85 


otism  for  Greece  as  a  land.  We  shall  soon  see  how  imper- 
fect was  the  union  even  against  the  pressing  danger  of 
subjugation  by  Persia,  and  what  a  long  series  of  sectional 
contests  was  carried  on  between  the  leading  states.  The 
Greeks  in  the  end  discovered  the  great  principle  of  Federal 
Union ;  but  this  was  not  till  near  the  close  of  their  history,, 
when  it  was  too  late. 


2.  GROWTH   OF   SPARTA  AND   ATHENS. 

30.  In  this  section  we  shall  glance  at  the  history  of  the 
two  most   important  Grecian  states,   namely,   subject 
Sparta  and  Athens;  and  we  shall  trace  their  "eated. 
history  down  to  the  period  when  all  Greece  united  against 
the  Persians,  about  500  b.  c. 

31.  At  the  commencement  of  authentic  Grecian  history 
we  find  the  Spartans  the  dominant  power  in 

the  Peloponnesus.  They  were  a  part  of  that 
great  Dorian  wave  that  about  11 00  b.  c.  had  overflowed  the 
southern  peninsula  of  Greece :  the  Dorians  established  and 
settled  three  states,  Argos,  Messenia,  and  Laconia,  or  Lace- 
daemon  ;  but  in  time  the  Spartans,  that  is,  the  people  of 
Laconia,  or  Lacedsemon,  gained  supremacy  over  the  other 
states. 

32.  The  ascendency  which  Sparta  acquired  over  the  oth- 
er states  of  the  Peloponnesus  was  mainly  ow- 
ing to  her  peculiar  institutions,  which  tradition  y'^"'"^"^- 
ascribes  to  a  legislator  named  Lycur'gus.  Of  this  person- 
age nothing  is  known  whatever,  and  some  have  even  denied 
his  existence.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  Lycurgus  did  exist 
somewhere  about  850  b.  c,  that  is,  about  a  century  before 
the  beginning  of  reliable  history,  and  that  he  more  clearly 
defined  and  fixed  already  existing  usages  and  regulations. 

33.  But  the  peculiar  constitution  of  the  Spartans  arose 
aecessarilv  out  of  the  circumstances  in   which  they  lived. 


86  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

In  other  parts  of  the  Peloponnesus  the  Dorian  conquerors 
gradually  fused  with  the  native  Achaeans,  but 
ta*n"%ecuiiari-   in  Lacedaemon  the  separation  was  maintained. 
*'*^*'  Such  of  the  Ach^ans  as  readily  submitted  were 

allowed  to  retain  their  personal  freedom,  though  without 
any  political  rights ;  but  the  greater  part  were  reduced  to 
servitude,  and  were  known  as  Helots.  The  citizens  of 
Sparta  were  thus  a  small  class  of  lords  (estimated  at  9,000 
in  the  time  of  Lycurgus)  among  a  tenfold  number  of  slaves 
and  subjects ;  and  to  keep  these  in  subjection  their  whole 
training  was  military. 

34.  The  chief  object  of  the  legislation  that  goes  by  the 
Object  of  Ly-  name  of  Lycurgan  was  to  create  and  maintain 
curgus's  laws.  ^  yigorous  and  uncorrupted  race  of  men : 
hence  it  concerned  itself  less  with  political  arrangements 
than  with  the  regulation  of  private  life  and  with  physical 
education. 

35.  By  this  system  weakly  children  were  exposed  to  per- 
Spartanedu-  ish,  while  of  those  who  were  allowed  to  live 
^^'''°"-  the  males  were  at  the  age  of  seven  separated 
from  their  homes  and  trained  by  state  educators.  The 
whole  time  of  the  Spartans  was  spent  in  public.  They 
took  their  frugal  meals  at  public  tables  in  messes  or  com- 
panies, to  which  each  contributed  so  much  from  the  prod- 
uce of  his  land.  Great  attention  was  devoted  to  gym- 
nastic exercises  and  military  drill ;  for  the  education  of  a 
Spartan,  beginning  with  his  seventh  year,  was  not  relaxed 
till  his  sixtieth.  He  was  inured  to  hunger  and  thirst  and 
to  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold,  and  was  taught  to  endure 
the  keenest  bodily  torture  without  complaint.  To  teach 
him  strategy  and  secrecy,  there  were  licensed  expeditions 
for  thieving,  and  severe  punishment  was  inflicted  on  him 
who  allowed  himself  to  be  detected  in  it.  Every  one  has 
heard  of  the  Spartan  youth  who  hid  the  stolen  fox  under 
his  coat,  and  allowed  it  to  tear  out  his  vitals  rather  than 


SPARTA   AND  ATHENS.  ^J 


expose  it  to  view.  Girls  were  trained  in  athletic  exercise3 
nearly  similar  to  those  of  the  boys,  but  separately.  This 
reared  a  race  of  vigorous  women,  the  influence  of  whose  pa- 
triotism in  sustaining  that  of  the  men  is  matter  of  historic 
celebrity.  "  Return  either  with  your  shield  or  on  it !  "  was 
the  exhortation  of  a  Spartan  mother  to  her  son  on  his  de- 
parture for  the  field  of  battle. 

36.  Spartan   education   produced   warriors,  but   naught 
else :  that  people  contributed  nothing  to  the 

Its  results. 

literature  and  the  arts  for  which  the  world  is 
indebted  to  Greece.  Oratory  was  held  in  special  contempt, 
and  philosophy  was  superseded  by  those  "  wise  saws,"  the 
brevity  of  which  we  still  describe  as  laconic.  Commerce  was 
forbidden  to  the  Spartan  citizens,  and  iron  money  alone  was 
allowed  for  their  few  trading  transactions.  The  fine  arts 
were  discouraged  as  leading  to  effeminacy.  The  labors 
of  agriculture  were  carried  on  exclusively  by  the  Helots. 
Thus  the  Spartans  resided  in  the  city,  where  they  passed 
their  lives  according  to  the  Lycurgan  discipline,  while  all 
the  ordinary  pursuits  of  civilized  life  were  left  to  their  de- 
pendents. This  discipline  no  doubt  made  them  intrepid 
soldiers,  but  as  a  people  they  were  stolid,  ungenerous,  and 
cruel,  even  for  those  cruel  times. 

37.  The  constitution  of  Sparta  was  peculiar.  At  the 
head  of  the  state  were  two  joint-kings,  who  constitution 
commanded  the  armies  and  performed  the  of  Sparta, 
public  sacrifices.  Bu':  their  power  was  often  merely  nom- 
inal, and  was  always  restricted  by  the  Senate  and  by  the 
Assembly  of  all  the  Spartans.  The  Assembly  annually 
elected  five  officers  called  Ephors,  who  as  a  general  thing 
exercised  all  power ;  so  that  Sparta  was  really  an  oligarchic 
Republic,  under  the  guise  of  a  monarchy. 

38.  Sparta  under  the  Lycurgan  system  became  an  ag- 
gressive military  state  :  she  conquered  the  Mes-   spartan  con- 
senians  (in  two  wars,  743-724  and  685-668   i"^^*^- 


88  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

B.  c),  humbled  her  powerful  rival,  the  Argives  (547  B.  c), 
and  thus  raised  herself  to  the  leadership  of  the  Dorian 
Commonwealths.  Having  become  the  controlling  power  of 
the  Peloponnesus,  Sparta  in  the  6th  century  b.  c.  began  to 
assume  the  right  of  interference  in  the  internal  affairs  of 
the  Grecian  states  beyond  the  Peloponnesus,  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  she  would  have  eventually  brought  all  the  states 
under  her  sway  (for  they  were  then  in  no  condition  to  dis- 
pute her  pre-eminence),  had  it  not  been  that,  at  the  time  at 
which  we  have  arrived,  all  the  states  were  called  upon  to 
unite  their  arms  against  the  aggressions  of  the  Persians. 

39.  Parallel  with  the  rise  of  Sparta  was  the  growth  of 

another   state  that  was  destined  not   only  to 
push  democratic  freedom  farther  than  any  other 

Grecian  state,  but  also  to  assert  an  intellectual  supremacy 

over  all  Greece.     This  was  Athens  :  — 

"  Athens,  the  eye  of  Greece,  mother  of  arts 
And  eloquence,  native  to  famous  wits." 

40.  It  is  known  that  the  Athenians  belonged  to  the 
^    ,    ^.  Ionian  race,  of  which  indeed   they  were  the 

Early  history,     n  • 

flower.  The  founding  of  Athens  runs  back 
into  the  mythic  period.  At  first  the  Athenians,  like  the 
other  Hellenes,  were  under  kings,  but  by  the  time  that  reli- 
able Athenian  history  begins,  we  find  that  Athens  had 
ceased  to  be  under  regal  rule,  Codrus  being  the  last  of  the 
kings. 

41.  Athenian  affairs,  however,  were  not  at  this  time 
Nature  of  the  Hianagcd  by  all  the  people,  but  only  by  a 
government,  privileged  class  of  nobles.  Thus,  though  a 
republic,  Athens  was  not  at  this  time  a  democracy.  The 
kingly  power  had  given  place  to  the  office  of  archon :  this 
was  at  first  limited  to  the  royal  family  and  held  for  life  ; 
then  it  was  held  for  ten  years,  and  finally  thrown  open  to 
the  whole  body  of  the  nobles,  the  number  of  archons  in- 


SPARTA   AND  ATHENS.  89 

creased  to  nine,  and  the  period  of  office  reduced  to  one 
year.  There  was  also  a  Senate,  afterwards  called  the 
Areopagus,  but  it  was  made  up  exclusively  of  the  nobles. 
Thus  we  see  that  the  great  mass  of  the  people  had  no  share 
whatever  in  the  government;  and  it  happened  at  Athens, 
as  generally  happens  where  power  is  confined  to  one  class, 
that  the  oligarchy  abused  their  privileges. 

42.  The  discontent  of  the  people  at  length  became  so 
serious  that  a  statesman  named  Dra'co  was  ap- 

,    .        .  ,  .  ,     Laws  of  Draco. 

pomted  m  624  b.  c.  to  draw  up  a  written  code 
of  laws.  They  were  marked  by  e.xtreme  severity;  for  he 
affixed  the  penalty  of  death  to  all  crimes  alike,  —  to  petty 
thefts  no  less  than  to  sacrilege  and  murder.  Hence  Dra- 
co's laws  were  said  to  have  been  written,  not  in  ink,  but  in 
blood ;  and  we  are  told  that  he  justified  this  extreme  hard- 
ship by  saying  "  that  small  offenses  deserved  death,  and 
that  he  knew  no  severer  punishment  for  great  ones."  * 

43.  The  legislation  of  Draco  failed  to  calm  the  prevail- 
ing discontent,  the  overbearing:  conduct  of  the 

r  ,       '  ,  ,  ,  ,     ,  Revolution. 

aristocracy  led  to  popular  outbreaks,  and  there 
came  a  state  of  anarchy,  from  which,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
6th  century  b.  c,  Athens  was  rescued  by  Solon.  Solon  had 
been  chosen  one  of  the  archons,  and  was  commissioned  to 
remodel  the  Constitution  of  Athens,  594  B.  c.  The  success- 
ful manner  in  which  he  performed  this  work  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  the  happiness  of  his  native  country. 

44.  The  main  object  of  the  constitution  of  Solon  was  to 
abolish  the  oppressive  aristocracy  and  to  sub- 

-         .  ,  ,  .   ,     Laws  of  Solon. 

stitute   for   it   a   moderate  government,  which 
should  admit  all  Athenian   citizens   to  a  share  of   power 
but  give  a  preponderating  influence  to  the  higher  orders. 
Solon's  legislation  was  marked  by  great  political  sagacityi 
and  unde»"  it  Athens  made  rapid   progress  in   prosperity; 

*  Smith's  History  of  Greece. 


90  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

but  it  was  far  from  satisfying  his  contemporaries.  Like 
most  moderate  politicians,  he  was  accused  by  one  side  of 
going  too  far  and  by  the  other  of  not  being  radical  enough. 

45.  The  result  was  a  struggle  of  parties,  which  ended  in 

the  seizure  of  power  by  a  leader  named  Pisis'- 

Pisistratus.  if,  \  11  •  •  e 

tratus,  who  (560  b.  c.)  assumed  the  position  of 
Dictator,  or,  as  the  Greeks  called  it,  Tyrant,  —  a  term 
which,  however,  denoted  merely  one  who  usu?-ped  power,  not 
necessarily  one  who  abused  power.  There  is  no  reason  to 
believe  that  the  constitution  of  Solon  was  abolished  under 
Pisistratus.  Athens  continued  to  enjoy  its  republican  gov- 
ernment, though  under  a  dictator.  Pisistratus  ruled  mildly, 
encouraged  the  arts  and  edited  Homer,  and  even  succeeded 
in  transmitting  his  power  to  his  sons;  but  after  half  a 
century  of  this  mild  tyranny,  the  family  of  the  Pisistrat'idae 
were  banished,  510  B.  c. 

46.  A  noble  named  Clis'thenes  now  rose  into  power.  He 
Reforms  of  cspoused  the  cause  of  the  people,  gave  the 
ciisthenes.  suffrage  to  all  free  inhabitants,  and  introduced 
into  the  constitution  political  reforms  to  which  very  much 
of  Athenian  greatness  is  attributable.  Under  the  new  con- 
stitution the  state  was  a  pure  democracy,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  liberty  and  equality  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the 
spirit  of  patriotism.  The  result  was  that  Athens  soon  rose 
to  be  the  leading  state  of  Central  Greece. 

47.  At  the  period  at  which  we  have  now  arrived,  —  the 
The  new  beginning  of  the  5th  century  b.  c,  —  Greece 
epoch.  had  put  on  the  shape  which  she  was  to  wear 
during  the  greatest  times  of  her  history.  At  this  time  a 
new  era  in  Hellenic  history  begins.  The  Greeks  had  to 
bear  the  trial  of  a  great  foreign  invasion.  Europe,  em- 
bodied in  Greece,  was  to  meet  old  Asia,  represented  by 
Persia,  and  the  sons  of  Hellas  were  to  come  out  of  the 
struggle  strong  and  ennobled. 


PERSIAN  INVASIONS.  9 1 


CHAPTER    III. 

HISTORY   OF   THE   SECOND   PERIOD. 

$K.OM  THB  BEGINNING   OF   THE  PERSIAN  l^AR    TO    THE  VICTORY  OF  PHIUP 
OF  MACEDON  AT  CHyERONEA,  £.  C.  ^00-338. 

I.     THE   PERSIAN    INVASIONS. 

48.  We  have  already  seen  how  the  great  Eastern  Mon- 
archy, founded  by  Cyrus  and  extended  by  Relations  with 
Cambyses,  was  consoUdated  by  Darius,  who  Persia, 
became  king  of  Persia  in  521  B.  c.  Among  the  conquests 
of  Cyrus  was  the  kingdom  of  Lydia,  in  Asia  Minor.  Now, 
just  before  the  Persian  conquest  of  Lydia,  the  king  of  that 
country,  Croesus,  had  succeeded  in  reducing  under  his  own 
dominion  the  Greek  cities  on  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor; 
so  that  now  they,  too,  became  subject  to  Persia. 

49.  The  Ionian  cities  did  not  submit  without  a  struggle, 
and  after  a  certain  time  there  ensued  a  general        . 

°     ,  Ionian   revolt, 

revolt  of  these  cities,  500  b.  c.     The  Athenians, 
to  help  their  kinsfolk  in  Ionia,  sent  twenty  ships  with  a 
small  force.     A  landing  was  made  on  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor,  and  Sardis,  the  capital  of  Lydia,  was  captured  and 
accidentally  burnt,  499  b.  c. 

50.  This  sally  had  only  the  effect  of  drawing  down  the 
wrath  of  Darius  on  the  Ionian  cities,  and  the  Effect  on  Da- 
revolt  was  soon  quelled  (494  B.  c).     The  Per-   '■*"^- 

sian  monarch  then  resolved  to  chastise  the  Athenians. 
When  the  news  of  the  burning  of  Sardis  was  brought  to 
Darius,  he  called  for  his  bow,  and  shot  an  arrow  towards 
the  sky,  with  a  prayer  to  Auramazda  for  help  to  revenge 
himself  on  the  Athenians.  Then  he  bade  one  of  his  ser- 
vants repeat  to  him  thrice  daily,  as  he  sat  down  to  dinner, 
\he  words,  "  Master,  remember  the  Athenians  1 " 


92 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


51.  In  execution  of  his  purpose,  Darius  instructed  his 
First  hostile  son-in-law,  Mardo'nius,  to  march  an  army 
movement.  against  the  Athenians.  The  force  advanced 
through  Thrace  into  Macedonia,  which  was  speedily  subju- 
gated, but  it  was  able  to  go  no  farther;  and  a  fleet  which 
had  been  sent  to  co-operate  was  shattered  by  a  great  storm 
off  the  peninsula  of  Mount  A'thos,  so  that  Mardonius  re- 
turned to  Asia  Minor  in  disgrace,  492  b.  c. 

52.  This  failure  only  added  fury  to  the  resolution  of 
New  prepara-  Darius.  While  pushing  forward  his  prepara- 
tions, tions  for  the  invasion  of  Greece,  he  sent  r^und 
heralds  to  the  chief  Grecian  cities  to  demand  the  tribute  of 
earth  and  water  as  signs  of  his  being  their  rightful  lord. 
The  island  states  generally  made  tlieir  submission,  as  did 


/?OUT£  OF  X£ffX£S^ARMY  ^^^^ 

'  Cou/Tscs  or  y£-/?x£S' ^i£rr.-.. 

^        COL'FSSS  CFT/^£GP£rK  FL££r.... 


PERSIAN  INVASIONS. 


93 


also  many  of  the  continental  states,  and  it  seemed  that  the 
voung  civilization  of  the  West  was  to  be  overwliehned  by 
Eastern  despotism.  But  the  genius  of  Hellas  found  noble 
champions  in  two  of  the  states ;  for  Athens  and  Sparta 
indignantly  rejected  the  demand,  and  their  conjunction 
drew  after  them  most  of  the  lesser  states  in  a  defensive 
league. 

53.  It  was  time  for  Greece  to  be  united,  for  in  the  spring 
of  490  B.  c.  the  preparations  of  Darius  were  invasion  of 
complete.  A  vast  force,  under  a  commander  Greece, 
named  Datis,  sailed  in  600  triremes  from  Samos  across  the 
.^gsean,  reducing  the  Cyclades  islands  on  the  way,  and  after 
capturing  Eretria  in  the  island  of  Eubcea,  made  a  landing 
in  the  bay  of  Marathon,  on  the  east  coast  of  Attica.  The 
Persians  now  prepared  to  advance  on  Athens. 

54.  But  this  was  not  to  be  without  a  struggle,  and  the 
plain  of  Marathon  was  the  scene  of  the  con- 

n.  /•     1  •  1  Marathon. 

fiict,  one  of  the  most  important  and  momen- 
tous in  history.  There,  be- 
tween the  mountains  and  the 
sea,  the  little  Athenian  force 
of  10,000  men,  unaided  save 
by  600  men  from  Platae'a,  but 
led  by  the  genius  of  Mil- 
ti'ades  and  inspired  by  high 
patriotic  daring,  met  a  Per- 
number,  and   defeated   it, — 


■v\c\ywv^  oy 


The  sequel. 


sian  army   of   ten   times   its 
September,  490  b.  c. 

55.  The  Persian  monarch  was  not  able  immediately  to 
renew  hostilities  with  the  Greeks,  for  other 
afifairs  engaged  his  attention  ;  and  when  Darius 
finally  found  himself  free  to  resume  his  purpose,  he  was  cut 
off  by  death,  485  B.  c.  His  son  Xerxes  succeeded  to  the 
throne,  and  promptly  took  up  the  task.  The  result  was 
another  and  far  more  formidable  invasion,  made  ten  years 
after  the  battle  of  Marathon. 


94 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


56.  During  this  interval  of  ten  years  the  Athenians  wert 
Affairs  at  Ath-  "ot  idle.  At  this  time  the  leading  men  at 
ens.  Athens    were    Themis'tocles    and    Aristi'des. 

Aristides  was  a  pure  patriot,  but  he  was  considered  stub- 
born and  impracticable.  Themistocles,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  a  sagacious  statesman:  he  urged  that  the  Athenians 
should  bend  their  energies  to  preparing  against  a  renewal 
of  the  invasion  by  the  Persians,  and  especially  that  a  navy 
should  be  created;  Aristides  opposed  this  policy.  Be- 
tween these  two  leaders  there  was  a  long  rivalry;  but 
finally  Aristides  was  ostracized.*  Under  the  vigorous  coun- 
sels of  Themistocles,  the  Athenians  bent  their  energies  to 
preparing  for  the  impending  conflict,  and  especially  to 
building  a  great  fleet  of  triremes.  Then,  as  the  note  of 
preparation  for  the  invasion  sounded  throughout  all  Asia, 
a  general  congress  of  the  Grecian  states  summoned  by 
Athens  and  Sparta  was  held  at  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth. 
Though  several  of  the  states  stayed  away  through  fear, 
yet  this  was  a  truly  national  meeting;  and  it  was  re- 
solved that  Sparta  should  be  the  head  of  the  league  against 
Persia. 

*  The  institution  of  ostracism  was  a  method  which  the  Athenians  had 
devised  for  the  purpose  of  getting  rid  of  obnoxious  public  men,  and 
was  in  some  respects  a  very  good  plan,  as  it  stopped  interminable  quar- 
rels between  rival  politicians.  It  derived  its  name  from  the  fact  that 
the  citizens,  in  voting  for  its  infliction,  wrote  the  name  of  the  objection- 
able person  on  a  shell  (ostreon),  and  if  there  was  a  majority  of  votes 
for  his  banishment,  he  was  exiled  for  ten  years.  The  conflict  between 
Aristides  and  Themistocles  became  at  last  so  sharp  that  the  Athenians 
finally  voted  to  ostracize  Aristides.  Among  those  who  voted  were  many, 
no  doubt,  whose  hostility  had  been  aroused  by  the  stern  probity  of  Aris- 
tides, who  was  known  as  "  the  Just."  The  story  is  true  to  nature,  that 
when  the  vote  of  ostracism  was  being  taken,  an  unlettered  citizen,  not 
knowing  Aristides,  asked  him  to  write  for  him  on  the  shell.  "  And 
what  name  shall  I  write  ? "  "  Aristides."  "  And,  pray,  what  wrong  has 
Aristides  done  you  ?  "  "  O,  none ;  but  I  am  tired  of  always  hearing 
him  called  the  Just." 


PERSIAN  INVASIONS.  95 

57.  From  every  part  of  his  wide  dominion  Xerxes  collect- 
ed at  Sardis  an  army  such  as  had  never  been   Beginning  of 

,      .  _-,  .  .      .  „  Xerxes's  iDva- 

seen  before,  for  transportmg  it  mto  Europe  sion. 
he  caused  a  double  bridge  of  boats  to  be  built  across  the 
Hellespont,  where  it  is  a  mile  wide  ;  and  in  480  b.  c.  the 
vast  host  (Herodotus  puts  it  at  2,500,000  fighting  men 
and  ships'  crews)  crossed  the  bridge  in  two  columns,  taking 
seven  days  and  nights  to  make  the  passage.  A  great  fleet 
consisting  of  1200  triremes  (each  manned  by  200  rowers 
and  30  fighting  men)  and  many  smaller  vessels  pursued  its 
course  northward  to  the  Hellespont,  and  then  steered  west- 
ward, keeping  close  to  the  coast  so  as  to  be  in  constant 
communication  with  the  army.  Meanwhile  the  prodigious 
array,  having  entered  Europe,  advanced  westward  through 
Thrace  and  Macedonia,  and  then  turning  southward  through 
Thessaly,  poured  itself  in  a  mighty  deluge  over  the  north- 
ern states  of  Greece  and  moved  towards  Attica. 

58.  The  Greeks  resolved  to  take  their  stand  in  a  narrow 
mountain-gorge  lying  between  the  precipitous 

°      °        •'      °  re  Continuation. 

mountains  of  Qilta  and  a  marsh  forming  the 
edge  of  the  Gulf  of  Mails.  [See  large  map,  p.  73.]  This  is 
the  celebrated  Pass  of  Thermop'ylae.*  It  was,  however,  only 
a  small  force  that  was  sent  to  the  defense  of  Thermopylae, 
When  the  arrival  of  Xerxes  in  Northern  Greece  became 
known,  the  Greeks  were  upon  the  point  of  celebrating  one 
of  their  religious  festivals,  and  not  wishing  to  give  up  the 
solemnity,  they  resolved  to  send  merely  men  enough  to 
hold  the  pass  till  the  festival  was  over,  when  they  would 
be  able  to  march  in  full  force.  The  defense  of  the  po- 
sition was  intrusted  to  the  Spartan  king,  Leonidas,  with 
about  7,000  troops,  the  flower  of  which  consisted  of  300 
Spartans. 


*  Literally,  gates  of  the  hot  springs:   the  pass  contains  several  hot 
springs,  and  the/_y/<^,  or  gates,  are  the  two  openings  of  the  pass. 


96 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


59.  When  the  Persian  host  reached  Thermopylae  and 
Battle  of  Ther-  sought  to  force  the  pass,  the  Grecian  guard 
mopyix.  made  a  stout  defense,  and  for  two  days  kept 
the  enemy  at  bay ;  but  on  the  third  day  a  traitor  pointed 
out  to  the  Persian  king  how,  by  taking  a  mountain-path, 
the  position  of  the  Greeks  might  be  "turned."  When  this 
movement  became  known,  most  of  the  Greek  officers  wished 

to  withdraw,  since  the 
position  was  no  longer 
tenable.  But  Leonidas 
refused  to  retreat.  As 
a  Spartan  he  was  bound 
by  the  laws  to  conquer 
or  to  die  in  the  post 
assigned  to  him.  His 
three  hundred  Spartans  were  moved  by  the  same  feeling, 
and  seven  hundred  Thespians  resolved  to  share  their 
fate.  The  rest  of  the  allies  were  allowed  to  retire.  This 
being  done,  Leonidas  and  his  comrades  determined  to 
sell  their  lives  as  dearly  as  possible:  so  they  advanced 
into  the  open  space  in  front  of  the  pass  and  charged  the 
Persians  with  desperate  valor.  But  this  heroism  was  in 
vain ;  for  their  spears  were  erelong  broken,  and  the  enemy, 
pouring  in  from  front  and  rear,  surrounded  the  Greeks  on 
all  sides.  Leonidas  fell,  and  the  heroic  band  were  killed 
to  a  man.     The  date  of  the  battle  was  August,  480  b.  c. 

60.  The  Greek  fleet,  as  we  have  seen,  had  taken  position 
off  the  northern  coast  of  the  Island  of  Euboea. 
Here  a  brisk  naval  action  was  fought,  which, 

though  indecisive,  helped  to  raise  the  courage  of  the  Greeks. 
It  seemed,  too,  as  though  the  gods  were  on  their  side,  for  in 
two  great  storms  nearly  half  the  Persian  fleet  was  shattered. 
When,  however,  it  became  known  to  Themistocles,  the  com- 
mander of  the  Grecian  fleet,  that  the  Pass  of  Thermopylae 
had  been  carried   and  that   the  enemy  was  advancing  on 


Naval  affairs. 


I'ERSTAN-  INVASIONS.  97 

Athens,  he  withdrew  the  fleet  southward  to  the  Bay  of 
Sal'amis,  near  Athens. 

61.  The  news  of  the  approach  of  Xerxes  created  great 
consternation  at  Athens  ;  but  the  oracle  told  Matters  at 
the  Athenians  that  they  must  seek  safety  in  Athens, 
their  "wooden  walls."  This  was  interpreted  to  mean  their 
ships.  Accordingly  the  whole  population  was  removed  from 
the  city,  and  the  Persians  took  possession  of  Athens  and 
reduced  it  to  ashes. 

62.  The  fate  of  Greece  was  to  be  decided  by  a  glorious 
naval  combat.  In  the  Bay  of  Salamis  the  Battle  of  saia- 
Greeks  had  assembled  their  whole  fleet  of  366   ""®- 

ships.  Though  the  Persians  had  lost  heavily  by  storm, 
they  had  still  about  1000  vessels,  and  two  months  after  the 
battle  of  Thermopyte  the  opposing  fleets  were  arrayed 
for  the  fight.  The  Persian  army  was  drawn  up  along  the 
shore,  and  the  Eastern  monarch,  anticipating  a  brilliant 
victory,  took  his  seat  on  a  lofty  throne,  on  a  promontory 
overlooking  the  scene. 

*'  A  king  sat  on  the  rocky  brow 
Which  looks  o'er  sea-born  Salamis; 
And  ships  by  thousands  lay  below, 
And  men  in  nations,  —  all  were  his. 
He  counted  them  at  break  of  day, 
And  when  the  sun  set,  where  were  they?" 

63.  Salamis  was  a  complete  victory  for  the  Greeks  ;  the 
Persians    lost   over    200    ships,    and   Xerxes, 

struck  with  cowardice,  beat  a  retreat  into  his   ^"""' 
own  dominions  by  the  route  on  which  he  came,  October, 
480  B.  c. 

64.  When    Xerxes    retired    he   left   behind   a  force   of 
300,000  under  one  of  his  generals,  named  Mar-   piataea  and 
donius.     The  following  year  a  decisive  combat,   ^ycaie. 

in  which  the  Greeks  were  completely  sut:essful,  was  fought 

at  PlatEea  between  this  force  and  a  Greek  army  of  70,00c 

S  G 


98  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

men  under  the  Spartan  leader  Pausanias  and  the  Athenian 
leader  Aristides,  September  25,  479.  On  the  same  day  a 
battle  at  Myc'ale  (in  Asia  Minor)  effected  the  destruction  of 
the  remnant  of  the  Persian  fleet. 

65.  These  three  battles,  Salamis,  Plataea,  and  Mycale,  de- 
cided the  war,  and  the  Persians  never  again 
dared  to  invade  Greece  itself.  The  struggle, 
it  is  true,  went  on  for  several  years  longer  before  the  Per- 
sians were  dislodged  from  the  various  posts  which  they  held 
north  of  the  .^gasan ;  but  at  last  they  were  driven  wholly 
out  of  Europe.  Thus  it  was  that  the  liberties  of  Greece 
v/ere  secured,  and  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  preser- 
vation of  Grecian  independence  meant  the  preservation  of 
the  civilization  of  Europe. 


2.    THE  AGE  OF  PERICLES. 

66.  The  half-century  following  the  battle  of  Salamis 
Period  of  Peri-  (480-430  B.  c.)  forms  the  most  brilliant  period 
'^'*'^-  of  Athenian  history,  and  one  of  the  most  illus- 
trious eras  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  is  usually  called 
the  "  age  of  Pericles,"  its  duration  nearly  coinciding  with 
the  public  life  of  that  statesman  who  for  forty  years,  though 
merely  a  private  citizen,  held  a  controlling  influence  over 
the  politics  of  Athens. 

67.  The  main  cause  of  the  ascendency  which  Athens  now 
Policy  of  Ath-  assumcd  was  the  brilliant  part  played  by  that 
^"^-  state  in  the  Persian  wars.  To  preserve  the 
freedom  of  the  now  liberated  Greek  cities  on  the  islands 
and  coasts  of  the  ^g^an,  a  league  was  formed  of  which 
Athens,  from  her  naval  power,  became  naturally  the  leader. 
The  inland  states  meanwhile  clung  to  Sparta.  It  soon  came 
about  that  the  maritime  cities  were  brought  into  a  sort  of 
subjection  to  Athens  ;  the  Athenians  denied  the  right  of  the 
States  to  secede  from  the  confederation,  caused  the  separate 


AGE   OF  PERICLES.  99 


treasury  of  the  league  to  be  merged  in  that  of  Athens,  and 
employed  the  ships  and  money  of  the  allies  in  prosecuting 
their  own  aggrandizement.  If  this  was  short-sighted  pol. 
icy,  it  at  least  put  the  Athenians  in  an  almost  imperial  po- 
sition for  the  time  being,  and  carried  forward  the  little 
democracy  to  a  wonderful  degree  of  power  and  splendor. 

68.  It  was  during  this  period,  when  the  Athenian  intel- 
lect was  stimulated  by  a  proud  sense  of  na-  sketch  of  the 
tional  greatness,  that  Grecian  genius  put  forth   Period. 

its  richest  blossoms  of  literature  and  art.  This  was  the  age 
of  grand  dramatic  composition,  and  of  the  greatest  works 
of  architecture  and  sculpture.  Oratory,  which  is  so  power- 
ful an  instrument  in  a  free  state,  was  now  cultivated  assidu- 
ously, and  the  Athenians  became  accustomed  to  hearing  the 
purest  lessons  of  patriotism  put  forth  in  the  loftiest  forms 
of  eloquence.  In  fine,  the  Athenian  commonwealth  under 
the  exertions  of  Pericles  attained  such  an  exalted  state  of 
cultivation  that  it  is  recorded  that  the  citizens  were  almost 
all  equally  qualified  to  fill  offices  or  discharge  business ;  so 
that  the  regulation,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  public  offices 
should  be  filled  by  lot,  rarely  resulted  in  the  choice  of  any 
but  able  and  well-qualified  men. 

69.  It  was  in  this  age  that,  on  the  other  hand,  the  seeds 
were  sown  of  that  terrible  civil  strife  that  rent   Beginning  of 
the  glory  of  Greece  ;  for  Pericles  himself  lived  strife. 

to  see  the  outbreak  of  that  direful  conflict  known  as  the 
Peloponnesian  War. 

70.  This  great  man,  one  of  the  very  ablest  statesmen 
that  ever  lived,  fell  a  victim  to  a  pestilence        . 

'  '■  Pencles. 

that  raged  m  Athens  m  429  B.  c.  His  death- 
bed was  surrounded  by  his  friends  and  admirers,  who  recit- 
ed the  many  illustrious  exploits  of  his  glorious  life.  "  You 
forget,"  said  the  dying  patriot,  —  "  you  forget  the  only  valua- 
ble part  of  my  character  :  none  of  my  fellow-citizens  was 
ever  compelled  by  any  action  of  mine  to  assume  a  mouni- 
ing  robe." 


100  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


3.     THE   PELOPONNESIAN   WAR. 

71.  The  Peloponnesian  war  was  a  conflict  between 
Duration  of  Athens  and  her  allies,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  war.  Sparta  and  her  allies,  on  the  other.  It  began 
in  431  B.  c,  lasted  twenty-seven  years,  and  ended  in  weak- 
ening Greece  generally,  and  in  completely  destroying  the 
Athenian  ascendency. 

72.  This  war  was  occasioned  by  the  jealousy  which  the 
Cause  of  the  great  power  of  Athens  stirred  up  among  many 
^^'■-  other  of  the  Greek  cities  ;  but  it  had  in  reality 
a  deeper  cause :  it  was  the  outbreak  of  an  "  irrepressible 
conflict  "  between  lonians  and  Dorians,  between  democracy 
and  oligarchy,  —  Athens  being  the  chief  of  the  Ionian  and 
democratic  states,  and  Sparta  the  chief  of  the  Dorian  and 
aristocratic  states. 

73.  The  immediate  occasion  of  the  war  was  a  conflict 

between    Corinth    and   one   of    her   colonies. 

First  ten  years.  ^  ,  ^.  ,.  .  ,        ,        ,  .    , 

Corcy'ra.  Sidmg  with  the  latter,  Athens  ex- 
cited the  wrath  of  the  Dorian  Confederacy ;  and  a  Spartan 
army  invaded  Attica,  431  B.C.  During  the  first  ten  years 
of  the  war,  down  to  421,  the  two  parties  contended  with 
nearly  equal  success,  the  Athenians  being  much  the  stronger 
by  sea,  and  the  Spartans  and  their  allies  by  land.  A  peace 
J^was  then  concluded,  called  the  "  Peace  of  Nicias  "  (421  b.  c.\ 
which  was  to  last  for  fifty  years ;  but  as  many  of  the 
confederates  were  dissatisfied  w'ith  its  terms,  it  was  not 
likely  to  be  of  such  long  duration,  and  indeed  hostilities 
were  renewed  almost  immediately. 

74.  The  renewal  of  the  war  was  precipitated  through 
.,.,..  ^  the  political  influence  of  Alcibi'ades,  a  hand- 

Alcibiades.  i-        i  ■,• 

some,  dissolute  young  disciple  of  Socrates  : 
he  possessed  brilliant  talent,  but  he  was  ambitious,  and  he 
was- eager  to  renew  the  war,  as  affording  him  an  opportunity' 
of  personal  distinction. 


SPARTAN  AND    THEBAN  SUPREMACY.  lOI 

75.  Alcibiades  brought  forward  a  scheme  of  conquering 
Syracuse,  a  city  in  Sicily.  It  was  a  bold  syracusan  ex- 
sclieme,  and  its  successful  execution  would  P^ti'tion- 
have  given  a  great  preponderance  to  Athens  over  Sparta. 
'I'he  Athenians  adopted  the  plan,  and  in  B.  c.  415  sent  a 
fieet  and  force  against  the  Syracusans.  Sparta  sent  aid 
to  the  Syracusans,  and  thus  the  Peloponnesian  war  was 
renewed.  In  the  midst  of  the  enterprise  Alcibiades  was 
recalled  to  Athens  on  a  charge  of  impiety ;  but  he  managed 
to  escape,  and  went  over  to  Sparta.  The  Syracusan  expe- 
dition proved  a  total  failure  (413  b.  c),  and  greatly  damaged 
the  power  of  Athens. 

76.  During  the  last  eight  years  the  Peloponnesian  war 
was  carried  on  mainly  at  sea,  off  the  coast  of 

Asia.  Sparta  allied  herself  with  Persia,  and  °^'"^  y^^t^. 
it  was  Persian  gold  that  afforded  Sparta  the  means  to 
continue  the  contest  against  Athens.  Athens,  however, 
made  a  bold  front,  and  under  the  lead  of  Alcibiades  (who 
had  meanwhile  been  recalled  to  the  command)  kept  up  the 
contest  with  wonderful  vigor.  But  a  fatal  blow  fell  when  the 
Spartan  admiral,  Lysander,  surprised  the  beached  galleys 
of  the  Athenians  at  ^gos  Pot'amos  in  the  Hellespont,  B.  c, 
405.  The  siege  and  surrender  of  Athens  in  the  following 
year  brought  the  great  Peloponnesian  contest  to  an  end. 

77.  The  result  of  the  Peloponnesian  war  left  Sparta  the 
greatest  power  of  Greece.  Athens  sank  into  Result  of  the 
the  background  as  a  second-rate  state  ;  still,   ^^'■• 

while  she  lost  her  political  supremacy,  she  became  more 
and  more  the  leader  in  literature,  art,  and  philosophy. 

4.     PERIOD   OF   SPARTAN   AND    THEBAN    SUPREMACY. 

78.  After  the  decline  of  Athens  Sparta  stood  without  a 
rival  in  Greece,  and  for  thirty-four  years  (from    spartan  sp- 
the  victory  at  ^gos  Potamos  to  the  defeat  of  premacy. 


I02  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

Leuctra,  405-371  B.C.)  the  Lacedaemonians  exercised  an 
undisputed  sway  in  Greece.  The  Spartan  dominion  was 
extremely  despotic,  and  the  Greek  states  that  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Peloponnesian  war  had  sided  with  Sparta  as 
a  "  liberator  "  from  Athenian  rule  now  found  the  Spartan 
yoke  much  more  galling  than  the  Athenian  had  been. 

79.  Meantime    in    Thebes    a    new    power   was    arising 

that  was  to  curb  her  pride.     The  greatness  of 

Rise  of  Thebes.   ™,     ,  ,  ,        ,  °  „  • 

Ihebes  was  the  work  of  two  men,  —  Epami- 
non'das  and  Pelop'idas,  —  who  knew  how  to  inspire  their 
fellow-citizens  with  their  own  heroic  spirit.  To  revenge 
themselves  for  the  insults  of  Sparta,  the  Thebans,  under 
these  leaders,  began  a  long  and  heroic  struggle.  The  de- 
cisive combat  of  this  war  was  fought  at  Leuctra,  where 
Epaminondas  utterly  defeated  the  Spartans,  371  b.  c.  In 
consequence  of  this  defeat  Sparta  fell  suddenly  and  forever 
from  her  high  estate. 

80.  Thebes  now  rose  to  be  the  leading  state  of  Greece, 
Theban  su-  ^"^  this  position  she  held  as  long  as  her  great 
premacy.  chieftain,  Epaminondas,  lived.  But  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Mantine'a  (362  b.  c),  waged  against  the  Spartans  and 
Athenians,  the  Theban  chieftain  died  in  the  arms  of  victory. 
With  the  fall  of  Epaminondas  Thebes  herself  fell,  for  there 
was  no  one  to  take  his  place. 

81.  The  struggle  between  Sparta  and  Thebes,  following 
Effect  of  the  ^s  it  did  the  great  Peloponnesian  war,  —  in 
'*^^"-  both  of  which  nearly  all  the  Hellenic  states 
were  engaged,  —  resulted  in  the  general  exhaustion  ot 
Greece.  What  strength  remained  was  expended  in  mere 
intestine  broils,  and  soon  after  this  Greece  fell  an  easy  prey 
to  Philip  of  Macedon. 


SUPREMACY  OF  MACEDOR.  IO3 


CHAPTER    IV. 
HISTORY    OF    THE    THIRD    PERIOD. 

?ROM    THE    VICTORY   OF   PHILIP    TO   THE    ABSORPTION   OF   GREECE    BV  THl 
ROMANS. 

I.     SUPREMACY   OF   MACEDON.  —  PHILIP. 

82.  The   Macedonians,   though   closely   allied   by   race 
to  the  Greeks,  had  remained  in  obscurity  while   Early  Mace- 
their   southern    kinsmen  were   pursuing  their  '^°"- 
stirring  career.     But  in  the  middle  of  the  4th  century  B.  c. 
they  came  under   a  bold   and  energetic  chief.     This  was 
Philip,  son  of  Amyntas  II. 

83.  Philip  assumed   the   government   of  Macedonia  in 
■?e;q  b.  c.    He  was  well  acquainted  with  Grecian 

"'•',.   .  ,        .  .  ,     ,  Philip's  plans. 

politics,  having  as  a  young  man  resided  at 
Thebes  in  the  character  of  a  hostage,  and  when  he  became 
king  he  set  on  foot  a  plan  for  the  elevation  of  Macedonia. 
This  was  not  by  any  means  to  conquer  Greece,  but  to  have 
Macedonia  recognized  as  a  Greek  state,  and  then  to  make 
it  the  leading  state  of  Hellas,  —  just  as  Athens,  Sparta,  and 
Thebes  had  successively  been. 

84.  Philip  commenced  by  craftily  mixing  himself  up  with 
Greek  affairs ;  and  he  managed  with  such  skill   Doings  of 
that  at  last  he  was  acknowledged  as  a  member   p^^'^'p- 

of  the  Amphic'tyonic  Council,  the  great  religious  assembly 
of  Hellas,  —  a  concession  equivalent  to  the  recognition  of 
Macedon  as  a  Greek  state.  Step  by  step  his  ambition  grew, 
till  he  began  to  think  of  a  grand  scheme  of  conquest. 

85.  This  plan  the  great  Athenian  orator  Demosthenes 
clearly  perceived,  and  he  commenced  uttering 

•'       ,  .   ,  .  .         .  .  ,         Demosthenes. 

the  thunder  of  his  voice  in  warnings ;  but  the 

Athenians  had  lost  much  of  their  patriotic  ardor,  so  they 

took  these  warnings  but  tardily. 


I04  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


86.  The  direct  aggressions  of  Philip  on  Athens  com- 
Career  of  mcnced  about  358  B.  c,  and  for  twenty  years  he 
^'^'''P-  continued  a  mixed  poHcy  of  war  and  intrigue, 
which  at  length  made  him  master  of  Greece.  In  338  b.  c, 
at  Chaerone'a  (in  Boeotia),  he  won  a  decisive  victory  over 
the  Athenians  and  Thebans  ;  this  crushed  the  liberty  of 
Greece,  and  made  it  in  reality  a  province  of  Macedonia. 

87.  The  main  causes  of  Philip's  wonderful  success  were 
Causes  of  his  twofold,  —  I .  His  admirable  military  organiza- 
success.  jJq^  .  ^j-jg  Macedonian  phalanx,  invincible  until 
it  came  to  be  opposed  to  the  Romans,  was  his  creation. 
2.  His  political  finesse:  taking  advantage  of  the  divided 
condition  of  Greece  and  of  the  general  prevalence  of  cor- 
ruption, he  played  off  state  against  state,  politician  against 
politician,  promising,  cajoling,  bribing,  threatening,  so  that 
he  won  even  more  by  diplomacy  than  by  force. 

88.  Philip  now  announced  his  intention  of  uniting  all 
„.     ,       ,        the  forces  of  Hellas  to  make  war  on  Persia, 

His  after  plans.  i  i  i     ■ 

and  avenge  the  old  mvasions  of  Greece  by 
Darius  and  Xerxes.  This  was  a  very  skillful  stroke  of  policy 
on  the  part  of  Philip  ;  it  diverted  the  minds  of  the  Greeks 
from  the  thought  of  the  loss  of  their  independence,  by  filling 
their  imaginations  with  the  glorious  vision  of  a  great  na- 
tional enterprise  of  the  Hellenes  against  the  barbarians. 

89.  The  design,  however,  was  not  executed  ;  for  in  the 
„.    ^     ,  midst  of  the  preparations  Philip  was  assassi- 

His  death.  ,  ,  r  ■>  •  ,  .  ,       , 

nated  by  one  of  his  own  subjects  {T^-^d  B.  c),  at 
the  age  of  forty-six,  after  a  reign  of  twenty-three  years. 

2.  CAREER  OF  ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT, 

90.  Philip  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Alexander,  known 

as  Alexander  the  Great.     At  the  age  of  twent}' 

he  became  heir  to  his  father's  power,  and  of 

far  more  than  his  father's  military  genius.     He  was  imme- 


ALEXANDER    THE   GREAT.  105 

diately  acknowledged  generalissimo  of  Greece  against  the 
Persians,  as  his  father  had  been.  In  the  year  334  he  set 
out  on  his  great  expedition,  and  as  he  never  returned  to 
Macedonia  or  Greece,  we  must  now  turn  our  eyes  away 
from  Greek  history  proper,  and  follow  the  marvelous  ca-' 
reer  of  the  youthful  conqueror. 

91.  Alexander  crossed  the  Hellespont  with  a  small  army 
of  35.000  iTien,  and  advanced  to  the  Grani'cus  His  first  vie- 
(in  Asia  Minor).  Here  a  Persian  army  some-  *°"es- 
what  larger  than  his  own  was  met  and  defeated,  B.  c.  334. 
He  then  passed  victoriously  through  the  Persian  provinces  of 
Asia  Minor,  and  entered  Syria.  At  Issus,  near  the  borders 
of  Cilicia  and  Syria,  a  vast  Persian  army  under  Darius 
Codoman'nus  was  met.  The  nature  of  the  ground  was  such 
that  the  Persian  superiority  in  numbers  did  not  tell ;  Alex- 
ander here  won  a  signal  victory  (333  b.  c),  and  Darius  fled, 
leaving  his  mother  and  his  wife  captives. 

92.  Alexander  did  not  immediately  follow  up  the  Per- 
sians, but  proceeded  from  Issus  against  Tyre,   His  next  op- 
Gaza,  and  Egypt,  at  this  time  under  the  domin-  oration. 

ion  of  Persia.  Twenty  months  sufBced  for  the  reduction 
of  these  places.  The  foundation  of  the  great  seaport  Al- 
exandria, —  an  act  of  far-sighted  policy  on  the  part  of  Alex- 
ander,—  was  a  result  of  his  sojourn  in  Egypt. 

93.  Having  possessed  himself  of  all  the  maritime  prov- 
inces of  Persia,  Alexander,  in  b.  c.  331,  pro-  Battle  of 
ceeded  to  seek  his  enemy  in  the  heart  of  his  Arbeia. 
empire.  The  final  conflict  took  place  at  Arbe'la  in  Assyria.* 
Here  Darius  had  chosen  his  ground  and  arrayed  the  full 
force  of  his  empire.  But  the  Asiatic  soldier  was  inferior 
to  the  European,  and  the  invading  force  was  led  by  a  con- 
summate military  genius.  The  result  was  the  complete 
overthrow  of  a  Persian  force  of  a  million  men  by  less  than 

*  Though  the  action  bears  the  name  of  Arbela,  it  was  in  reality  fought 
at  Gaugame'la,  a  village  20  miles  distant. 


I06  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

50,000  Greeks  (b.  c.  331).  So  decisive  was  the  victory,  that 
the  three  capitals  of  the  empire,  Babylon,  Susa,  and  Per- 
sep'olis,  surrendered  almost  without  resistance ;  and  the 
Persian  monarch  became  a  fugitive,  and  was  erelong  assas- 
sinated. 

94.  Thus  at  the  age  of  t\venty-five  Alexander  saw  him- 
Aiexander's  self  lord  of  Western  Asia.  But  the  most  re- 
ambition,  markable  part  of  the  conqueror's  career  was 
now  to  begin.  Instead  of  settling  down  in  the  luxurious 
capital  of  the  East,  he  was  urged  by  an  irresistible  impulse 
to  press  on,  so  long  as  there  were  lands  or  men  to  conquer. 

95.  To  the  east  of  Persia  lay  a  new  and  unknown 
Expedition  to  world,  believed  to  be  one  of  immense  wealth, 
^"'^'^-  and  he  resolved  to  penetrate  it.  Half  explor- 
ing, half  conquering,  he  pushed  his  way  into  the  mysterious 
Orient  as  far  as  the  river  Hyph'asis  (the  modern  Sutlej)  in 
Northern  India  (326  b.  c.).*  He  subdued  the  princes  that 
were  found  reigning  here,  and  then  desired  to  press  east- 
ward and  complete  the  subjugation  of  the  continent,  which 
was  believed  to  terminate  at  no  great  distance. 

96.  His  soldiers,  however,  refused  to  go  any  farther 
than  the  Hyphasis ;  so  he  had  to  prepare  to  return  home- 
wards.    It  is  a  proof  of  his  inventive  genius,  that  in  place 

*  See  the  route  of  Alexander  on  the  map  opposite  page  55.  From 
Persep'olis  he  went  to  Ecbat'ana,  thence  eastward  through  Media,  Hyr- 
cania,  Parthia,  and  Aria,  Tounding  in  the  latter  a  city  of  Alexandria 
(modern  Herat) ;  then  southward  through  Drangia'na  ;  then  (late  in  330) 
northeastward  through  Aracho'sia,  founding  there  Alexandrop'olis  (mod- 
ern Candahar'  ? ) ;  then  northward  across  the  range  of  the  Paropami'sus 
or  Hindoo  Koosh,  across  the  Oxus  River,  and  (early  in  329)  traversing 
Bactria'na  and  Sogdia'na  to  the  capital  of  the  latter,  Maracanda  (modern 
Samarcand)  ;  then  northward  to  the  Jaxartes  River,  where  he  founded 
Alexandria  Eschate  (i.  e.  the  last  or  fa7-tkest)  ;  then  back  again,  scouring 
Sogdiana  and  Bactriana  in  various  directions  ;  then,  in  327,  southeast- 
ward from  Bactriana  to  the  Indus,  which  he  crossed  at  Tax'ila;  then 
eastward  to  the  Hydas'pes,  founding  Buceph  ala  and  Nicae'a,  and  finally 
to  the  Hyph'asis. 


ALEXANDER    THE   GREAT.  \oy 

of  retracing  his  steps  he  went  back  by  an  entirely  new  path. 
He  built  a  fleet  to  sail  down  the  Hydas'pes  Return  froi 
and  the  Indus,  while  the  bulk  of  his  army  ^"'^'*' 
marched  down  their  banks.  Reaching  the  Indian  Ocean, 
Alexander  sent  his  admiral,  Near'chus,  with  the  fleet,  round 
to  the  Euphrates ;  he  himself  led  his  army  overland  through 
the  desert  region  of  Gedro'sia  (Beloochistan)  and  Carma'nia 
into  Persia.  Though  his  army  suffered  terribly  in  the  des- 
ert, yet  Alexander  brought  back  the  greater  part  of  his  force 
to  Persepolis  (324  b.  c),  and  began  to  prepare  for  new  en- 
terprises. 

97.  The  plans  of  Alexander  were  brought  to  an  end  bj' 
the  sudden  death  of  their  projector,  at  Baby- 

,  ^^,  ri.i/  \      His  death. 

Ion,   at   the    age    of    thirty-three  (b.  c.    323). 

Thus  cut  off  in  the  vigor  of  early 
manhood,  he  left  no  inheritor  either  of 
his  power  or  of  his  projects.  When 
asked  on  his  death-bed  to  whom  he 
left  the  empire,  he  said,  "To  the 
strongest."  But  there  was  none  strong 
enough.  Thus  the  vast  dominion  broke 
into  fragments   soon  after  his  death. 

Com  OF  Alexander.         ^^^   j^j^   ^^j.^^^  schemeS  of  policy  and 

conquest  were  buried  in  his  grave. 

98.  Though  the  great   empire   of  Alexander  broke  in  , 
pieces  almost  at  once,  yet  the  effects  of  his  Result  of  his 
career  have  remained  to  all  time.     One  great  conquests.         ^ 
result  was  the  Hellenizing  of  the  conquered  lands,  that  is,  i| 
their  assimilation  to  Greek  ideas  and  Greek  civilization. 
"The  Greek  language  became  the  tongue  of  all  govern- 
ment and  literature  throughout  many  countries  where  the 
people  were  not  Greek  by  birth.     It  was  thus  at  the  very  v 
moment  that  Greece  began  to  lose  her  political  freedom  |J 
that  she  made,  as  it  were,   an   intellectual  conquest  of  a  I 
large  part  of  the  world." 


I08  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


3.    ALEXANDER'S   SUCCESSORS. 

99.  The  great  empire  of  Alexander,  as  has  been  said, 
Division  of  fell  to  picces  after  his  death,  and  the  generals 
the  empire.  .^j^q  y^^^  fought  under  him  contended  fiercely 
during  twenty  years  for  the  fragments.  In  the  year  301  a 
decisive  action  took  place  at  Ipsus  in  Phrygia,  the  result  of 
which  gave  Syria  and  the  East  to  Seleucus,  Egypt  to  Ptol- 
emy, Thrace  to  Lysim'achus,  and  Macedonia  to  Cassander. 
Of  the  various  kingdoms  founded  by  these  men,  two  are  of 
special  interest,  —  the  kingdom  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Eg}-pt 
and  the  kingdom  of  the  Seleu'cidas  in  the  East. 

100.  Egypt  fell  to  the  lot  of  Ptolemy,  one  of  Alexander's 

generals,  known  as  Ptolemy  Soter.  He  was 
an  energetic  monarch,  and  during  a  long  reign 
(323-283  B.C.)  ruled  Eg}^pt,  on  the  whole,  well.  The 
Greeks  and  the  Macedonians  whom  he  carried  with  him  or 
who  emigrated  to  Egypt  were  the  ruling  race  ;  but  the  Egyp- 
tians were  not  oppressed,  for  many  of  the  civil  rulers  were 
natives,  and  particular  respect  was  paid  to  the  old  Egyptian 
religion. 

101.  Ptolemy  I.  was  followed  by  a  series  of  monarchs 

also  called    Ptolemies   down    to  the    time   of 
o  emies.  q^^^^^  Cleopatra,  the  last  of  the  line  of  the 
Ptolemies.     On  her  death  (30  B.  c.)  Egypt  became  a  Roman 
province. 

102.  The  history  of  Egypt  during  the  three  centuries  of 
Alexandrine  Ptolcmaic  rulc  is  mainly  the  history  of  Alexan 
civilization.  jj-j^^  which  was  made  the  capital,  and  which 
soon  became  a  great  and  flourishing  city.  Literature,  phi- 
losophy, and  the  arts  were  assiduously  cultivated  ;  the  great 
Alexandrian  Library  was  swelled  to  500,000  volumes,  and  a 
novel  and  peculiar  culture  and  civilization  —  a  mingling  of 
Greek,  Egyptian,  and  Jewish  —  arose  on  the  Nile  banks, 
under  the  paternal  despotism  of  the  Ptolemies. 


MAC  EDO  N  AND   GREECE.  IO9 

103.  The  kingdom  of  the  Seleucidae  was  founded  (312 
B.  C.)  by  Seleucus,  another  of  Alexander's  gen-   Kingdom  of 
erals.     At  first  the  kingdom  consisted  merely   Seieucus. 

of  Babylonia  and  the  adjacent  regions,  Susiana,  Media,  and 
Persia ;  but  Seleucus  afterwards  made  himself  master  of  all 
the  countries  lying  between  the  Indus  and  Euphrates  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  Jaxartes  and  the  Indian  Ocean  on  the  other. 
A  still  further  addition  was  soon  made  in  nearly  all  of  Asia 
Minor.  Seleucus  now  removed  his  capital  from  Babylonia 
to  the  newly  founded  Greek  city  of  Antioch  in  Syria. 

104.  Seleucus,  who  died  by  assassination  in  280,  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  succession  of  kings  known  as  the   ^ 

-'  •11     Later  history. 

Seleucidae,  who  for  about  two  centuries  ruled 
over  the  kingdom  he  had  founded.  This  portion  of  history, 
however,  is  not  specially  instructive,  and  the  kingdom  of  the 
Seleucidae  was  of  no  considerable  importance  in  the  history 
of  civilization.  The  two  centuries  are  filled  with  the  stories 
of  wars  and  revolts,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  kingdom  grad- 
ually lost  its  huge  proportions  ;  its  remnant  was  finally  con- 
quered by  Pompey  and  absorbed  into  the  Roman  Empire 
in  the  year  65  b.  c. 

4.    LATER   HISTORY   OF  MACEDON  AND  GREECE. 

105.  We  now  return  to  what  took  place  in  Macedon  and 
Greece  subsequently  to  the  death  of  Alexander  Greece  resists 
the  Great  in  b.  c.  323.  On  the  death  of  Alex-  Macedon. 
ander,  the  Greeks  were  inspired  by  high  hopes  of  bursting 
the  chains  which  bound  Hellas  to  the  footstool  of  the 
Macedonian  kings.  Athens,  under  Demosthenes  and  Hy- 
per'ides,  took  the  lead  :  they  formed  a  confederacy  of  the 
Greek  states,  and  entered  on  what  was  called  the  "  Lamian 
war  "(323-321  B.  c).  But  the  confederates  were  unsuccess- 
ful, and  the  yoke  of  Macedonia  was  riveted  on  them  more 
firmly  than  ever. 


no  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

106.  The  last  days  of  Grecian  history,  before  the  coun- 
Later  Greek  try  Came  altogether  under  the  power  of  the 
politics.  Romans,  are  distinguished  in  several  ways 
from  the  times  which  went  before  them.  The  chief  powers 
of  Greece  now  were  Macedonia,  Achaea,  .^tolia,  and  Sparta  % 
Macedonia,  for  reasons  that  will  readily  be  known  ;  Achaes 
and  ^tolia,  from  a  new  fact  in  the  politics  of  Greece^ 
namely,  the  formation  of  Federal  Leagues  of  States. 

107.  The  nature  of  these  leagues  was  similar  to  the 
Grecian  federal  union  of  the  States  of  Switzerland  and 
leagues.  q£  Q^J.  q^^j^  Republic ;  that  is,  there  was  an 
agreement  on  the  part  of  several  states  to  give  up  part  of 
their  power,  and  especially  their  control  of  questions  of 
peace  and  war,  to  a  general  government  in  which  all  had  a 
share.  These  leagues  now  came  to  be  of  special  weight  in 
Greek  politics,  since  it  was  found  that  as  long  as  the  cities 
stood  one  by  one  they  had  no  chance  of  keeping  their  free- 
dom against  the  Macedonian  kings.  The  most  important 
of  these  federal  unions  were  the  Achaean  (formed  in  280 
B.  c.)  and  the  ^tolian  Leagues.  Besides  these  two  great 
federations,  there  were  smaller  unions ;  so  that,  with  the 
exception  of  Sparta  at  one  end  and  Macedonia  at  the  other, 
the  greater  part  of  Greece  was  parted  out  among  the  differ 
ent  leagues. 

108.  These  confederations  of  the  Greek  States  subserved 

a  useful  purpose,  as  they  enabled  them  to  pre 

Their  effect.  £^      ^         '  .      ,        -^    ,  .      ^    -.^ 

serve  a  front  of  independence  against  Mace 
don.  Under  Ara'tus  and  Philopoe'men,  —  two  patriots  oi 
the  kind  that  Hellas  had  produced  in  her  glorious  times,  — 
the  States  of  the  Achaean  League  rose  to  a  considerable 
eminence  (245-213  b.  c.) ;  but  the  jealous  selfishness  oi 
Sparta  once  more  led  to  discord  and  strife,  and  the  Mace 
donian  king,  being  called  in  as  umpire,  was  once  more 
master. 

109.  But  Macedon  itself  was  about  to  be  swallowed  up  b\ 


ANALYTIC  SYNOPSIS.  Ill 

a  yet  greater  power,  —  by  Rome.  It  was  at  this  time,  as  we 
shall  presently  see,  that  the  Romans,  having  Macedon  and 
broken  the  power  of  Carthage,  turned  their  Ro">e. 
ambition  eastward.  After  a  long  conflict  (200- 1 68  b.  c.) 
the  Macedonian  kingdom  was  overtlirown  at  the  battle  of 
Pydna,  168  b.  c,  and  Perseus,  the  last  of  the  Macedonian 
kings,  adorned  as  a  captive  the  triumph  of  a  Roman  general. 

110.  After  this  event  the  Greek  republics  were  for  a 
short  time  left  independent ;  but,  quarreling   Last  days  of 
once  more  among  themselves,  they  were  finally  Greece. 
(146  B.  c.)  reduced  to  a  Roman  province  under  the  name 
of  Achaia. 

111.  The  intellectual  history  of  later  Greece  was  of  a 
different  character  from  that  of   its   glorious   Decline  of 
period.     There  was  more  of  scholarship,  but   Delias. 

less  of  creative  genius.  We  have  seen  that  the  Oriental 
conquests  of  Alexander  and  the  Greek  rule  in  the  new  king- 
doms of  the  East  tended  to  Hellenize  Asia ;  but  there  was 
a  reflex  influence  of  Asia  on  Hellas  herself.  The  Oriental 
habits  of  servility  and  adulation  superseded  the  old  free- 
spoken  independence  and  manliness ;  patriotism  and  public 
spirit  waned  ;  literature  lost  its  vigor  3  art  deteriorated,  and 
the  people  sank  into  a  nation  of  pedants,  parasites,  and 
adventurers. 

"  'T  was  Greece,  but  living  Greece  no  more  1 " 


ANALYTIC   SYNOPSIS   FOR   REVIEW. 

First  Authentic  Period,  — from  the  Dorian  migra. 
tions  to  the  beginning  of  the    Persian   Wars,  B.  C. 
1 100-  500. 
Second  Period,  —  from  the  beginning  of  the  Persian 
Greek  "history  1  ^^""^  *°  *^^  victory  of  Philip  of  Macedon  at  Chaero- 
1  nea,  B.  c.  500-338. 

I      Third  Period,  —  from  the  victory  of  Philip  to  the 
1.  absorption  of  Greece  by  the  Romans,  B.  c.  338- 146. 


Three  Periods 
of 


112 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


First  Period,  B.C.  1100-500. 

The  Heroic  Age  ended  with  a 
general  migration  of  the  tribes  of 
Greece,  the  settlement  of  the  Do- 
rians in  the  Peloponnesus,  and  the 
establishment  of  colonies  on  the 
shores  of  Asia  Minor  and  else- 
where. In  the  succeeding  three 
or  four  centuries  the  Spartans, 
under  the  form  of  government 
established  by  Lycurgus,  became 
General  J  the  leading  state  of  the  Pelopon- 
Summary.  I  nesus,  conquering  the  Messenians 
and  others.  Athens  meantime 
had  become  an  oligarchy.  A  more 
moderate  government  was  estab- 
lished by  Solon ;  however,  con- 
tentions were  frequent,  and  Pi- 
sistratus  seized  power,  which 
remained  with  his  sons,  till  the 
Pisistratidae  were  expelled,  and 
Athens  became  a  pure  democracy. 

Second  Period,  B.  C.  500-338. 

The  Ionian  Greeks  in  Asia 
Minor  revolted  from  Persia,  and 
Athens  lent  them  aid.  Accord- 
ingly Darius  sent  Mardonius 
against  Greece  ;  but  he  advanced 
no  farther  than  Macedonia,  his 
fleet  being  destroyed  by  a  storm. 
Then  Darius  sent  a  vast  force 
under  Datis,  but  it  was  defeated 
in  the  battle  of  Marathon.  Da- 
rius having  died,  his  son  Xerxes 
moved  on  Greece  with  an  im- 
mense army  and  fleet:  he  was 
successful  at  Thermopylae,  and 
took  Athens ;  but  was  defeated  at 
Salamis,  and  the  remaining  force 
at  Platasa  and  Mycale,  —  which 
caused  the  Persian  scheme  wholly 


General 
Summary. 


LEADING  DATES. 

B.C. 

Dorian  migration    1100 


Colonies  founded 
in  Asia  Minor 
(about) 1000 

Period  of  Lycur- 
gus (about 850 

Beginning  of  first 
Messenian  war..    743 

Beginning  of  sec- 
ond      685 

Solon's  constitu- 
tion      594 

Pisistratus  be- 
came dictator...    560 

Banishment  of  the 
Pisistratidae 510 


Revolt  of  the  Ioni- 
an Greeks  against 
Persia 500 

Expedition  of  Mar- 
donius     49a 


Battle     of    Mara- 
thon  -. 490 


Battle      of     Ther- 
mopylae   48c 

Battlr  of  Salamis.  480 

Battle  of  Plataea..  479 

Battle  of  Mycale..  479 


ANALYTIC  SYNOPSIS. 


113 


to  fail.  The  half-century  follow- 
ing the  battle  of  Salamis  was  the 
most  brilliant  period  of  Athenian 
history  (age  of  Pericles) ;  but  the 
greatness  of  Athens  led  to  the 
Peloponnesian  war.  This  was  in- 
terrupted by  the  Peace  of  Nicias  ; 
but,  being  renewed,  the  Athenians 
were  beaten  in  various  engage- 
ments, and  finally  defeated  at 
^gos  Potamos :  so  the  result 
of  this  war  was  the  ascendency  of 
Sparta.  Sparta  continued  prom- 
inent till  her  defeat  at  Leuctra. 
Thebes  now  became  for  a  while 
the  leading  state ;  but  Greece, 
rent  by  dissensions,  was  soon  sub- 
jugated by  Philip  of  Macedon,  in 
the  battle  of  Chaeronea. 


Beginning  of  Pelo- 
ponnesian 'War.. 

Peace  of  Nicias... 


431 

421 


Battle     of     .Sgos 
Potamos 405 


Battle  of  Leuctra.    371 


Battle    of  Chsro- 
nea 338 


General 
Summary. " 


Third  Period,  B.  C.  338  -  146. 

Philip  of  Macedon  by  war  and 
intrigues  made  himself  master  of 
Greece,  and  was  then  appointed 
general-in-chief  against  Persia ; 
but  he  died,  and  his  son  Alexan- 
der took  up  the  task.  He  marched 
against  the  Persians  in  Asia  Mi- 
nor, defeating  them  at  the  Granicus 
and  at  Issus  ;  then  into  Egypt  and 
Assyria,  defeating  them  in  the  de- 
cisive battle  of  Arbela.  He  after- 
wards marched  eastward  to  beyond 
the  Indus,  and  thence  returned  to 
Babylon,  where  he  died.  After 
Alexander's  death  his  generals 
disputed,  and  the  empire  was  di- 
vided. Greece,  meanwhile,  fell 
into  a  state  of  intestine  war,  and 
at  last  became  a  Roman  province. 


Death  of  Philip  of 
Macedon 336 


Battle  of  the  Gran- 
icus   334 

Battle  of  Issus...  333 

Battle  of  Arbela..  331 


Death  of  Alexan- 
der     323 


Greece  made  a  Ro- 
man province...     146 


u 


114  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


CHAPTER   V. 
GRECIAN     CIVILIZATION. 

I.     POLITICAL   IDEAS. 

112.  The  history  of  Greece,  though  the  history  of  but  a 
,  .     small  part  of  the  world  for  a  brief  period  (the 

Part  played  m  ,  .....  ,  ,        ,     ,, 

history  by  grand  age  IS  limited  to  the  century  and  a  half 
between  the  battle  of  Marathon,  490  b.  c, 
and  the  triumph  of  Philip  of  Macedon,  338  b.  c),  is  of 
permanent  interest,  for  the  reason  that  the  Greeks  were 
the  first  people  to  show  the  world  what  real  freedom  and 
real  civilization  are.  It  has  been  said  that  in  the  Grecian 
commonwealths  "  the  political  and  intellectual  life  of  the 
world  began." 

113.  The  great  contribution  given  by  Greece  to  the 
Political  free-  world's  civilization  was  the  practical  example 
^°'"-  of  free,  self-governing  states.  In  the  Oriental 
nations  the  only  government  was  despotism :  there  was  an 
absolute  lord,  and  there  was  a  mass  of  subjects  or  slaves, 
but  no  people  in  a  political  sense.  It  was  left  for  the  Greek 
states  to  give  an  illustration  of  democracy,  —  "  the  govern- 
ment of  the  people,  for  the  people,  by  the  people."  This 
was  a  great  fact :  it  is  only  in  an  atmosphere  of  freedom 
that  the  human  mind  can  expand  and  that  progress  is  pos- 
sible, for  political  liberty  means  intellectual  liberty;  sc 
that,  without  this,  the  germs  of  Hellenic  genius  would  prob- 
ably never  have  borne  their  rich  fruitage  of  literature  and 
art 

3.    RELIGION. 

114.  Though  the  Greeks  never  rose  to  the  exalted  He- 
brew conception  of  one  God,  yet  their  religion  was  much 


religion:  115 

in  advance  of  the  dark  and  often  cruel  superstitions  of 
most  of  the  ancient  nations.     They  were  poly-   „ 

,     .  ,  ,  ,       ,       1  ,  1  Greek  and 

theists,  but,  as  they  looked  on  the  gods  as   other  pagan, 
their  personal  friends,   their  paganism  was  a 
religion  of  love,  whereas  Asiatic  paganism  was  a  religion 
of  fear. 

115.  The  religion  of  the  Greeks  received  its  peculiar 
form  from  the  beautiful  fictions  of  the  poets,   us  poetic 
especially  of  Homer  and  He'siod.     Thus  their  character, 
mythology  was  an  inexhaustible  treasury  of  highly  ideal  con- 
ceptions  which  the  chisel  and  the  pen  of  artists  and  poets 
embodied  in  forms  of  immortal  grandeur  and  loveliness. 

116.  In  the  Grecian  theogony,  or  history  of  the  gods,  the 
earliest  events  that  are  described  are  the  pro-   Greek  theog- 
ceedings  of  certain  gigantic  agents,  —  the  col-  °"y- 

lision  of  certain  terrific  forces,  which  were  ultimately  reduced 
under  the  more  orderly  government  of  Zeus,  or  Jupiter, 
with  whom  begins  a  new  dynasty,  and  a  different  order  of 
beings. 

117.  Zeus  divided  the  sovereignty  with  his  two  brothers, 
—  Posei'don  (Neptune)  and  Hades  (Pluto).  Dynasty  of 
He  retained  for  himself  the  ether  and  the  at-  ^^"®- 
mosphere,  together  with  the  general  presiding  function. 
Poseidon  obtained  the  sea,  while  Hades  ruled  the  world  of 
shades.  These  deities,  with  their  sisters  and  divine  progeny, 
comprehended  the  gods  worshiped  by  the  early  Greeks. 
Twelve  were  especially  called  the  great  Olympian  gods, 
being  supposed  to  dwell  on  the  heights  of  Mount  Olympus 
and  to  form  the  divine  ag'ora,  or  council  of  the  gods,  which 
was  held  there. 

The  student  will  here  find  the  names  and  chief  attributes  of  the  Olym- 
pian divinities,  together  with  the  Latin  names,  by  which  they  are  more 
generally  known 

I.  Zeus,  or  yupiter,  the  chief  and  father  of  the  gods.  He  is  always 
represented  as  seated  on  a  throne  with  the  thunderbolts  in  his  right 
band,  and  an  eagle  by  his  side. 


Il6  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

2-  Po-sei'don,  or  Neptune,  the  earth-shaker  and  ruler  of  the  sea:  his 
symbol  is  a  trident. 

3.  A-pol'16n,  or  Apollo  (called  also  Phoebus  Apollo),  the  divinity  of 
poetical  inspiration,  of  song  and  music.  He  was  figured  as  the  beau 
;d'/a/ of  manly  beauty.    (Statue  of  Apollo  Belvedere  discovered  in  1503.) 

4.  Ar'te-mis,  or  Diana,  the  huntress  among  the  immortals,  the  divin- 
ity of  flocks  and  of  the  chase.  As  twin-sister  of  Apollo,  she  was  the 
divinity  of  the  moon. 

5.  He-phais'tos,  or  Vulcan,  the  god  of  terrestrial  fire  :  he  is  repre- 
sented  as  a  blacksmith. 

6.  Her'mes,  or  Mercury,  the  messenger  of  the  gods ;  the  god  of  elo- 
quence, and  the  protector  of  trade  :  he  is  marked  by  his  winged  san- 
dals, and  by  his  caduceus,  or  wand. 

7.  A'res,  or  Mars,  the  god  of  war,  delighted  in  the  din  of  battle,  the 
slaughter  of  men,  and  the  destruction  of  towns. 

8.  He'ra,  or  Juno,  the  wife  of  Jupiter,  a  beautiful  but  unamiable  god- 
dess. 

9.  A-the'na,  or  Minerva  (also  Pallas),  the  goddess  of  wisdom  and  war 

10.  Hes'tia,  or  Vesta,  the  goddess  of  the  hearth. 

11.  De-me'ter,  or  Ce'res,  the  goddess  of  agriculture. 

12.  Aph-ro-di'te,  or  Venus,  the  goddess  of  love  and  beauty,  is  gener- 
ally represented  with  her  son  E'ros,  or  Cupid.  The  legend  runs  that 
she  rose  from  the  sea-foam  and  landed  on  the  island  of  Cyprus.  The 
Odyssey  represents  her  as  the  wife  of  Vulcan.  Venus  was  of  course 
a  favorite  subject  with  the  Greek  sculptors.  The  two  finest  remain- 
ing statues  of  this  goddess  are  the  Venus  de  Medici  and  the  lovely 
but  imperfect  statue  known  as  the  Venus  of  Milo. 

118.  Besides  the  twelve  dii  majores,  or  greater  gods  of 
Other  divini-  Olympus,  there  was  an  indefinite  number  of 
*'^^-  others,  some  of  whom  were  little  inferior  in 
power  and  dignit}-.  Such  were  He'Iios,  or  Sol  (the  Sun)  ;  Bac- 
chus, whom  the  Greeks  called  Diony'sos,  to  whom  the  goat- 
herds and  vine-dressers  paid  especial  honor ;  the  Muses ; 
the  Nere'ides,  or  sea-nymphs ;  the  Graces,  etc.  There  were 
also  monsters,  —  the  progeny  of  the  gods,  —  as  the  Harpies, 
the  Gorgons,  Cer'berus,  the  Centaurs,  the  Dragon  of  the 
Hesper'ides,  etc. 

119.  By  the  Greeks  all  nature  was  imaged  as  moving 
and   working  through  a  number  of  personal   agents  ;  and 


GRECIAN  FESTIVALS.  II J 


tViough  many  of  the  legends  concerning  these  personages 
appear  to  us  silly,  and  some  quite  shocking, 
yet  the  early  Greek  religion  was,  to  say  the   of  Greek  re- 
least,  composed  of  many  beautiful  and  poetic    '*^*°"' 
conceptions.    It  was  not  until  later  that  the  Greeks  adopted 
from  Egypt,  Asia  Minor,  and  Thrace  the  grosser  supersti 
tions  practiced  in  their  orgies  and  Eleusinian  mysteries. 

120.  The  popular  worship  of  the  gods  consisted  princi- 
pally in  sacrifices,  which  were  either  offerings 

of  prayer  and  thanksgiving,  or  sin-offerings: 
these  were  celebrated  by  the  priests  either  in  the  open  air, 
on  the  tops  of  mountains,  in  forests  and  groves,  or  in  tem- 
ples, especially  on  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  the 
great  national  festivals.  The  offerings  were  either  animals 
—  sometimes  single,  sometimes  in  great  numbers  (heca- 
tombs)—  or  inanimate  objects,  as  fruits,  wine,  honey,  milk, 
frankincense,  etc.  Other  modes  of  honoring  the  gods  were 
by  short  forms  of  prayer  uttered  standing  and  with  out- 
stretched arms,  by  votive  offerings,  solemn  processions,  and 
religious  dances. 

121.  The  Greeks  believed  that  they  obtained  revelations 
of  the  divine  will  from  the  oracles,  of  which   ^     , 

Oracles. 

the  most  renowned  were  those  of  Zeus  at  Do- 
do'na,  and  of  Apollo  at  Delphi. 


3.     GRECIAN   FESTIVALS. 

122.    One  of  the  most  striking  features  of  Grecian  life 

were  the  congresses  of  the  people  of  all  the  xhe  four  fes- 
states  and  colonies  at  the  four  great  national  t'^^'s. 
festivals,  —  the  Olympic,  Pyth'ian,  Isth'mian,  and  Ne  mean 
Games.  The  Olympic  Festival  was  celebrated  in  honor  of 
Jupiter  in  the  plain  of  Olympia,  in  E'lis,  every  four  years ; 
the  Pythian  was  held  in  the  third  year  of  each  Olympiad, 
near  Delphi,  in  honor  of  Apollo  ;  the  Isthmian,  in  honor  oi 


Il8  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

Neptune,  was  so  called  from  its  being  celebrated  on  me 
Isthmus  of  Corinth ;  the  Nemean,  in  honor  of  Nemean  Ju- 
piter, at  the  town  of  Ne'mea  in  the  Peloponnesus. 

123.  The  great  feature  of  all  these  festivals  were  those 
^  "  Games,"  or,  as  the  Greeks  called  them,  "  Con- 

Thsir  nature.  ,,.,.,.  .     ,  , 

tests,  in  which  prizes  were  awarded  to  the 
victors  in  athletic  exercises,  in  foot  and  horse  and  chariot 
races,  in  music  and  poetry.  The  prizes  were  of  no  value 
by  themselves,  —  a  mere  garland  of  olive,  laurel,  etc.,  placed 
on  the  victor's  head.  But  this  chaplet  carried  with  it  death- 
less fame.  The  name  of  the  victor  was  proclaimed  before 
assembled  Hellas,  his  statue  was  erected  in  the  sacred 
grove,  and  his  praises  were  sung  by  poets.  He  returned 
in  triumphal  procession  to  his  home,  where  distinguished 
honors  and  substantial  rewards  awaited  him. 

124.  These  festivals  lasted  for  several  days,  and   drew 

together  an  immense  multitude  from  all  parts 
ciai  and  liter-  of  Greece.  They  thus  afforded  the  best  pos- 
'^^^'  sible  means  for  commercial,  social,  and  literary 

intercourse.  "  In  the  booths  around  the  plain  of  Olympia, 
merchants  exchanged  the  rude  wares  they  had  brought  from 
the  banks  of  the  Tanais  and  the  Rhone  against  the  rich 
products  of  Asia  and  Africa ;  the  social  and  political  condi- 
tion of  the  various  states  of  the  mother  country,  of  her  far- 
thest colonies,  and  of  the  barbarian  nations  around  them, 
might  be  compared.  Teachers  of  philosophy  discussed 
the  theories  which  sprang  up  in  Athens  and  Italian  Greece  ] 
sculptors  and  painters  took  occasion  to  exhibit  the  finest 
productions  of  chisel  and  brush ;  while  poets  and  historians 
read  aloud,  in  all  their  freshness,  those  immortal  works  which 
we  only  half  admire  for  want  of  such  a  hearing.  Such 
intercourse  must  have  powerfully  tended  to  maintain  thai 
intellectual  sjTnpathy  which,  in  the  absence  of  any  political 
union,  was  the  strongest  bond  of  nationality  among  the  sons 
of  Hellas."* 

*  Philip  Smith.  History  of  the  World. 


GREEK  LITERATURE  AND  PHILOSOPHY.        II9 


4.    GREEK  LITERATURE  AND   PHILOSOPHY. 

125.  Leaving  aside  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  the  literature 
of  Greece  is  incomparably  the  most  valuable  of  comparisou  oi 
all  the  literatures  of  antiquity.  It  is  far  richer,  '"t^ratures. 
grander,  and  more  original  than  that  of  Rome,  —  and  in- 
deed the  Latins  were  avowedly  imitators  of  the  Greeks. 
Of  the  literature  of  the  Egyptians,  Babylonians,  and  Phoeni- 
cians we  have  only  fragments,  and  these  are  far  from  show- 
ing a  high  tone  of  thought  or  sentiment.  The  ancient 
Persians  have  left  us  but  one  important  work  the  Zend- 
Avesta,  and  this  is  rude  and  primitive  in  its  structure.  The 
great  body  of  Hindoo  writings  (the  Vedas,  etc.)  is,  from  its 
lack  of  form,  curious  rather  than  valuable.  With  the  Greeks, 
for  the  first  time,  came  noble  intellectual  conceptions  em- 
bodied in  forms  of  literary  art. 

126.  In  Greek  literature  poetry  precedes  prose.     The 
oldest  Greek  poems  that  remain  to  us  are  the  „ 

^  .  V      ,  Homer. 

two  immortal  epics  (1.  e.  narrative  poems)  that 
go  by  the  name  of  Homer,  —  namely,  the  Iliad  and  the 
Odyssey.  These  are  considered  the  finest  epics  ever  writ- 
ten :  they  breathe  the  freshness  and  charm  of  the  poetic 
springtime  of  the  world.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  these 
earliest  monuments  of  Grecian  literature  do  not  belong  to 
continental  but  to  colonial  Hellas.  It  was  in  the  Ionian 
and  vEolian  cities  on  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor  that  the  lit- 
erature of  Greece  originated ;  for  whether  the  Iliad  and  the 
Odyssey  are  to  be  looked  on  as  the  work  of  one  individual 
or  of  many  bards,  scholars  are  agreed  that  they  must  be 
regarded  as  the  composition  of  Asiatic  Greeks. 

127.  By  the  Greeks  Homer  was  regarded  as  a  real  in- 
dividual ;  Herod'otus  places  him  four  hundred   Homer  among 
years  before  himself,  which  would  fix  his  pe-  ^^'^  Greeks, 
riod  at  about  880   b.  c.     These  poems  were  for  centuries 
lodged  only  in  the  memory  of  bards,  who  sang  or  recited 


i:iO  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

them  to  assembled  companies  and  at  festivals.  They  were 
not  committed  to  writing  till  the  period  of  Pisistratus  at 
Athens  (b.  c.  560). 

On  the  subject  of  the  authorship  of  the  Homeric  poems,  read  Chajv 
ter  XXI.  of  Grote's  Greece,  Vol.  II.  The  most  celebrated  English  trans- 
lations of  Homer  are  those  of  Chapman  (time  of  Shakespeare),  Pope  and 
Cowper  (last  century),  Lord  Derby  and  our  American  poet,  William 
Callen  Bryant. 

128.  The  next  development  of  epic  poetry  was  in  Bceo'- 

tia,  in  the  works  of  Hesiod,  who  is  thought  to 
have  lived  in  the  8th  century,  that  is,  about  a 
century  after  Homer.  The  two  most  famous  books  of  He- 
siod are  the  Theogony  and  the  Works  and  Days.  These 
were  looked  up  to  by  the  Greeks  as  of  great  authority 
in  theological  and  philosophical  matters;  but  they  do  not 
possess  the  same  interest  for  us  as  the  Homeric  poems. 

129.  The  epic  was  the  only  kind  of  poetry  during  the 
Epic  and  kingly  period.  The  epics  usually  related  the 
elegy.  exploits  of  the  heroes  of  the  mythical  ages, 
and  hence  were  very  acceptable  to  princes  who  claimed 
descent  from  those  heroes.  When,  however,  regal  rule  gave 
place  to  democracy,  poets  arose  who  were  stimulated  to  a 
freer  expression  of  live  feelings.  The  new  style  of  poetry 
is  called  the  Elegy,  —  but  the  word  has  a  wider  meaning 
than  with  us,  and  denoted  all  emotional  poetry.  One  of  the 
most  famous  writers  of  the  elegy  was  Tyrtae'us  (born  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  8th  century  b.  c).  He  is  said  to  have 
been  a  lame  schoolmaster  at  Athens,  sent  to  Sparta  in  de- 
rision by  the  Athenians,  to  whom  the  Spartans  had  applied 
for  a  leader  in  the  Messenian  war:  it  is  added  that  his 
stirring  songs  had  a  great  influence  on  the  campaign. 
Simon'ides  of  Ceos,  who  belongs  to  the  5th  century,  is  also 
named  as  a  writer  of  noble  elegies. 

130.  The  next  step  in  the  progress  of  Greek  poetical 


GREEK  LITERATURE  AND  PHILOSOPHY.        121 

literature  was  the  growth  of  lyric  poetry.  The  chief  feature 
of  this  style  was   its  connection  with  music,    ^     . 

,,  .  IT-  Lync  poetry. 

vocal  as  well  as  instrumental.  Lyric  poems 
were  sung,  accompanied  with  music  and  often  with  the 
fnovements  of  the  dance.  The  most  famous  names  in 
Greek  lyric  poetry  are  Sappho,  Alcas'us,  Anac'reon,  and  Pin- 
dar. Sappho,  who  wrote  in  the  6th  century  b.  c,  was  a  Les- 
bian ;  she  sang  of  love,  and  Alcaeus,  who  also  was  a  Lesbian 
and  her  contemporary,  calls  her  the  "  violet-crowned,  pure, 
sweetly  smiling  Sappho."  Pindar  (born  522  b.  c.)  was  a 
native  of  Boeotia  ;  he  was  the  most  celebrated  of  the  Doric 
school  of  lyrists,  and  was  thought  by  the  Greeks  the  most 
sublime  of  their  poets. 

131.  The  highest  form  of  Greek  literature,  the  drama, 
arose  in  Athens  in  the  age  of  Pericles,  5th  cen-   ^ 

°  .  Drama. 

tury  B.  c.  Tragedy  attained  its  full  develop- 
ment at  the  hands  of  ^s'chylus  (born  525  b.  c),  Soph'ocles 
(born  495  b.  c),  and  Eurip'ides  (born  480  b.  c).  The  fertil- 
ity and  excellence  of  Greek  dramatic  poetry  at  the  flood  tide 
of  national  greatness  were  most  remarkable.  The  festivals 
of  Bacchus  (Dionysos),  celebrated  at  Athens  every  spring, 
were  the  principal  occasions  on  which  new  pieces  were 
brought  out,  and  always  in  competition  for  the  prize  and 
under  the  direction  of  the  chief  magistrates. 

132.  Greek  tragedy  as  exhibited  in  the  masterpieces  of 
.^schylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euripides  was  very   Cornpanson 
different  from  our  drama,  and  especially  from   speare. 

the  plays  of  Shakespeare.  The  Shakespearian  tragedy  deals 
with  human  life  and  passion  ;  Greek  tragedy  with  the  gods 
and  mythical  heroes.  In  regard  to  treatment,  the  Greek 
dramatist  was  bound  to  obey  the  rules  of  "  unity  of  time  and 
place  "  ;  that  is,  the  plot  must  be  confined  to  one  place  and 
to  an  interval  of  time  not  much  exceeding  that  which  was 
occupied  in  the  representation.  All  that  could  not  be  sup^ 
posed  to  happen  in  the  presence  of  the  chorus,  and  within 


122  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

the  compass  of  a  few  hours,  had  to  be  narrated,  and 
could  not  be  acted.  Shakespeare  wholly  disregarded  the 
limitations  of  time  and  space.  Had  such  a  subject  as 
Ki7ig  Lear  been  treated  by  Sophocles,  all  that  precedes 
the  fifth  act  would  have  been  narrated,  and  the  fifth  alone 
acted. 

133.  Athenian  comedy  derived  its  origin  from  the  revels 

and  gibes  of  the  comus,  or  Bacchic  procession. 

Comedy.  _         ^  a    •  ,  ,  /, 

Its  greatest  master  was  Aristoplranes  (born  at 
Athens  444  b.  c).  Among  the  most  famous  of  his  comedies 
that  have  come  down  to  us  are  The  Clouds,  The  Wasps,  2716 
Birds,  and  The  Frogs.  They  satirize  Athenian  society  in  a 
very  pungent  and  amusing  manner. 

134.  We  now  turn  to  prose  literature.     In  history  the 

first  great  name  is  that  of  Herodotus,  called 

Herodotus.  .  . 

the  "  Father  of  History."  He  was  an  Ionian 
Greek  of  Halicarnas'sus  in  Asia  Minor,  and  was  born  in 
484  B.  c,  between  the  first  and  second  Persian  wars.  The 
subject  chosen  by  Herodotus  was  the  History  of  the  Per- 
sian Wars ;  but  it  took  a  wider  scope,  and  was  really  a  sort 
of  universal  history  up  to  his  time.  He  had  traveled  exten- 
sively in  Egypt  and  in  Asia,  and  presents  us  with  a  vivid  and 
most  interesting  picture  of  society  and  life  among  the  na- 
tions of  antiquity  at  his  time.  The  style  of  Herodotus  is 
that  of  a  charming  story-teller,  and  his  work  is  still  read 
with  pleasure. 

Many  translations  of  Herodotus  have  been  made.  The  best  is  that 
of  Rawlinson,  in  four  volumes.  The  notes  and  essays  appended  to  the 
text  of  Herodotus  in  this  admirable  work  contain  the  results  of  the  latest 
scholarship  regarding  the  history  of  each  country  treated. 


135.    The  most  philosophic  historian  produced  by  Greece 
_^       ^.^  is    Thucyd'ides   (born    at    Athens   471   b.  c). 

Thucydides.  ,■'.  ^  t  i  / 

The   subject  chosen   by  Thucydides  was  the 
Peloponnesian  War.     His  history  is  distinguished  for  the 


GREEK  LITERATURE  AND  PHILOSOPHY.        1 23 

loftiness  of  its  style,  and  for  the  profound  insight  it  dis- 
plays into  the  actions  and  motives  of  men.  It  is  the  ear- 
liest example  of  the  philosophy  of  history,  and  as  such  it  is 
what  Thucydides  himself  proudly  called  it,  a  "  possession 
forever." 

136.  Among  other  historians  may  be  named  Xenophon, 
a  contemporary  of  Thucydides,  distinguished  other  histo- 
for  his  easy  and  graceful  style  of  narrative  ;  Po-  "»"*. 
lyb'ius,  who  belongs  to  the  2d  century  b.  c.  ;  and  Diodo'rus, 
who  belongs  to  the  ist  century.  Plutarch,  whose  Lives  has 
been  called  the  "  Bible  of  heroisms,"  *  lived  in  the  2d  cen- 
tury A.  D, 

137.  In  connection  with  prose  literature  should  be  men- 
tioned eloquence,  or  oratory.     It  was  first  cul-   ^ 

1  .    ,  ,      •  ,  Oratory. 

tivated  as  an  art  at  Athens  durmg  the  great 
period  of  the  democracy.  Pericles  himself  was  master  of  a 
style  of  oratory  so  sublime  as  to  gain  for  him  the  epithet  of 
"  the  Olympian."  Political  oratory  was  exhibited  in  its 
fullest  development  in  the  contest  between  ^s'chines  (393  - 
317  B.  c),  the  advocate  of  Macedonian  interests,  and  his 
greater  adversary  Demosthenes  (385-332  B.C.),  who,  in 
exposing  and  opposing  the  plans  of  Philip, 

"  shook  the  arsenal 
And  fulmined  over  Greece." 

138.  Philosophy  was  first  cultivated  in  the  Grecian  col- 
onies of  Asia  Minor  and  Lower  Italy :  in  the   Early  phiios- 
former  by  Tha'les,  who  lived  in  the  6th  century,  °phers. 

and  was  the  founder  of  the  Ionic  school ;  in  the  latter  by 
Pythag'oras,  who  belonged  to  the  same  century,  and  was  the 
head  of  the  Pythagore'an  school.  Thales,  Pythagoras,  and 
the  other  early  sages  of  Greece  chiefly  occupied  themselves 
with  natural  philosophy ;  but  in  the  5th  century  they  were 
succeeded  by  the  Sophists  and  Rhetors,  who  taught  the  arts 

*  R.  W.  Emerson. 


124 


HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 


Socrate»- 


of  dialectics  and  rlietoric,  and  were  the  paid  instructors  of 
the  Athenian  youth. 

139.  Soc'rates,  one  of  the  wisest  and  greatest  of  the  hu- 
man race,  belongs  to  the  epoch  immediately 
succeeding  the  age  of  Pericles  (469-399  b.  c). 
He  did  not  teach  any  positive  system  of  philosophy ;  his 
special  work  was  to  break  down  prejudices,  to  show  people 
their  ignorance,  to  expose  fallacies,  and  to  assert  the  exist- 
ence of  great  necessary  truths,  —  of  the  good,  the  true,  and 

the  beautiful, 
—  and  this  he 
did  by  a  meth- 
od  of  search- 


mg  mquiry 
called,  after 
him,  the  So- 
cratic.  He 

Socrates.  Plato.  ■(;vas    ungainly 

of  person  and  ascetic  in  his  habits  ;  he  taught  without  pay 
in  the  porticoes,  the  market-place,  and  the  street,  addressing 
all  who  chose  to  listen,  in  a  homely  but  most  pointed  and 
telling  style.  Notwithstanding  his  pure  and  noble  life,  and 
his  efforts  to  promote  the  welfare  of  mankind,  his  doctrines 
made  him  many  enemies :  he  was  charged  before  the  Athe- 
nian magistrates  with  not  believing  in  the  gods,  and  with 
being  a  corrupter  of  youth.  Being  condemned  on  these 
charges,  he  was  sentenced  to  drink  a  cup  of  hemlock.  He 
met  his  death  calmly,  surrounded  by  his  beloved  and  weep- 
ing disciples,  to  whom  in  his  last  hours  he  discoursed  on 
the  Immortality  of  the  Soul. 

140.  Plato  (429  —  347  B.  c),  one  of  the  disciples  of  Soc- 
rates, was  the  founder  of  the  Academic 
school,  so  called  from  the  groves  of  Acade'mus, 
near  Athens,  where  the  philosopher  gave  his  lectures.  The 
works  of  Plato  remain  in  the  form  of  his  Dialogues,    In  these 


Plato. 


GRECIAN  ART.  125 


Socrates  is  represented  as  the  principal  speaker;  but  the 
philosophy  of  Plato  was  really  his  own.  It  is  distinguished 
for  its  lofty  ideal  character.  The  Platonic  doctrines  have 
had  a  powerful  influence  on  the  human  mind,  and  are  the 
high-water  mark  of  spirituality  in  the  ancient  world. 

141.  Aristot'le  (384-322  b.  c),  the  founder  of  the  Peri- 
patet'ic  school  (at  the  Lyceum  at  Athens),  was 

the  most  logical  and  systematic  of  the  philoso- 
phers and  scientists  of  Greece.  He  first  gave  form  to  what 
is  called  the  deductive  system  of  reasoning.  His  philosophy 
predominated  over  the  minds  of  men  for  two  thousand 
years,  —  lasting,  in  fact,  until  it  was  displaced  by  the  Induc- 
tive system,  with  which  the  name  of  Bacon  is  associated. 
Induction  arrives  at  truth  by  reasoning  up  from  facts  to 
general  laws  ;  deduction  begins  with  abstract  principles  and 
seeks  to  arrive  at  truth  by  reasoning  downwards,  as  in  ge- 
ometry.    Aristotle  was  the  teacher  of  Alexander  the  Great. 

S.    GRECIAN  ART. 

142.  The  four  fine  arts  are  architecture,  sculpture,  paint- 
ing, and  music.  The  artistic  instincts  of  the  Forms  of 
Greeks  expressed  themselves  in  the  first  two  Greek  art. 
forms  (for  painting  and  music  belong  properly  to  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  and  to  Christianity)  ;  and  in  these  a  degree  of  per- 
fection was  attained  that  was  never  before  seen  and  that 
has  never  since  been  surpassed. 

143.  The  most  important  architectural  works  of  Greece 
are  the  temples  of  the  gods :  in  these  we  find 

the  development  of  the  Grecian  column  in  the  ^'"^  ^^' 
three  classic  forms,  —  the  Doric,  the  Ionic,  and  the  Cor- 
inthian. It  is  probable  that  all  the  principal  cities  of 
Greece  had  temples  commensurate  with  their  dignity  before 
the  Persian  wars  ;  but  many  were  destroyed  during  that 
struggle,  and  in  the   grand   period   of   national    life   that 


126 


mSTORY  OF  GREECE. 


followed  the  contest  with  Persia  the  people  pulled  down 
and  rebuilt  the  old  structures  in  a  more  magnificent  style. 
The  consequence  is  that  nearly  all  the  great  temples  now 
found  in  Greece  were  built  in  the  forty  or  fifty  years  which 
succeeded  the  defeat  of  the  Persians  at  Salamis. 


Ionic  order. 


Doric.  Ionic.  Corinthian. 

Three  Orders  of  Greek  Architecture. 

144.  The  graceful  Ionic  order  of  architecture  had  its 
origin  in  the  Greek  cities  of  Ionia  in  Asia 
Minor.     The  most  celebrated  example  of  this 

order  was  the  temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus,  burnt  on  the 
birthnight  of  Alexander  the  Great  (b.  c.  356)  by  Heros'tratus, 
and  rebuilt  in  still  more  splendid  style  in  the  Roman  age. 
This  temple  was  425  feet  long  by  220  feet  wide.  Its  whole 
foundation  has  been  laid  bare  by  English  explorations. 

145.  The  Corinthian  was  the  highest  and  most  richly 

ornamented  of  the  Grecian  orders.     The  an- 

Corinthian.  .  ,  ,     .      .  ,  ,     ,.  , 

cients  employed  it  m  temples  dedicated  to 
Venus,  Flora,  and  the  nymphs  of  fountains,  because  the 
flowers  and  foliage  with  which  it  is  adorned  seemed  well 


GRECIAN  ART.  \2J 

adapted  to  the  delicacy  and  elegance  of  such  deities.  It 
dates  from  the  latter  part  of  the  5  th  century  B.  c. 

146.  The  most  famous  of  the  Doric  temples  of  Greece  is 
the  Parthenon,  — the  "House  of  the  Virgin,"   p^^^^^„^„_ 
dedicated  to  Athena  (Minerva)  :  it  was  built  of 

pure  white  marble,  and  crowned  the  Aciopolis  at  Athens. 
Of  this  structure  a  great  authority  says  :  "  In  its  own  class 
it  is  undoubtedly  the  most  beautiful  building  in  the  world. 
It  is  true  it  has  neither  the  dimensions  nor  the  wondrous 
expression  of  power  and  eternity  inherent  in  Egyptian  tem- 
ples, nor  has  it  the  variety  and  poetry  of  the  Gothic  cathe- 
dral ;  but  for  intellectual  beauty,  for  perfection  of  proportion, 
for  beauty  of  detail,  and  for  the  exquisite  perception  of  the 
highest  and  most  recondite  principles  of  art  ever  applied  to 
architecture,  it  stands  utterly  and  entirely  alone  and  unri- 
valed, —  the  glory  of  Greece,  and  the  shame  of  the  rest  of 
the  world."  * 

147.  It  is  acknowledged  that  in  sculpture  the  Greeks 
attained  absolute  perfection.     The  finest  speci- 

,    ^        .  ,  ,  .  Sculpture. 

mens  of  Grecian  sculpture  that  remain  to  us 
are  the  figures  that  adorned  the  pediments  and  friezes  of 
the  Parthenon.  Most  of  these  were  taken  by  Lord  Elgin 
from  Athens  to  England,  and  are  now  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum. Many  of  the  figures  are,  unfortunately,  in  a  mutilat- 
ed state,  but  they  nevertheless  embody  the  very  perfection 
of  loveliness,  majesty,  and  power.  These  works  were  ex- 
ecuted by  a  school  of  artists  under  the  direction  of  the  illus- 
trious Phid'ias,  who  belonged  to  the  grand  period  following 
the  Persian  wars.  This  was  the  heroic  age  of  Grecian  sculp- 
ture :  later  artists  produced  forms  that  the  uninstructed  re 
gard  as  more  bemitiful.,  but  they  lack  the  perfect  purity 
and  repose  of  these  immortal  works. 

*  Ferguson's  History  of  Architecture,  Vol.  I.  p.  221.    See  cut  of  the 
Parthenon,  p.  73  of  the  present  book. 


128  HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 

6.     GREEK   LIFE,   MANNERS,   ETC. 

148.  The  mode  of  life  and  the  manners  and  customs  of 
tlie  Greeks,  as  gleaned  from  their  writings  and  the  relics 

they  have  left  us,  form  a  deeply  interesting 
subject,  —  which,    however,    can    merely    b^ 
touched  on  here. 

149.  The  dress  of  the  Greeks  was  simple,  without  un- 

necessary  coverings  or  useless  display  of  orna- 
ments. Between  the  sexes  there  was  little 
difference  of  attire.  The  garments  were  commonly  of  wool, 
linen,  and  later  of  cotton.  The  women  wore  no  head-cov- 
erings ;  all  the  men,  too,  were  hatless,  except  travelers  and 
certain  kinds  of  workmen.  In-doors  the  Greeks  used  no 
foot-covering ;  abroad  they  wore  sandals,  shoes,  sometimes 
boots. 

150.  The   Greeks   ate   three   daily  meals,  reclining   on 

couches,  and  using  neither  table-cloth  nor  nap- 
kins. In  primitive  fashion,  they  used  their  fin- 
gers for  knives  and  forks  ;  but  spoons  were  common.  They 
washed  the  hands  (no  wonder !)  before  and  after  meals. 
Among  the  common  people  dried  fish  and  barley  bread,  witK 
dates,  were  the  staple  food.  Among  the  well-to-do  all  sorts, 
of  luxuries  were  of  course  indulged  in.  After  dinner  came 
the  symposium,  when  host  and  guests  drained  goblets  of 
wine  mixed  with  hot  or  cold  water,  being  governed  by 
the  "  master  of  the  feast,"  who  was  chosen  by  lot.  This 
drinking-bout  was  enlivened  by  varied  conversation,  music, 
dancing,  and  all  sorts  of  games  and  amusements. 

151.  Though  the  state  did  not  support  schools,  yet  daily 

school-going    was    quite    general;    the    boys 

alone  went  to  school,  however.      The  whole 

education  of  a  Greek  youth  was  divided  into  three  parts,  — 

grammar,  music,  and  gymnastics.      The  schoolmaster  was 

called  the  gra?nmatis'ies,  or  grammarian  ;  but  with  the  Greeks 


GREEK  LIFE,  MANNERS,  ETC.  1 29 


''grammar"  included  most  of  the  rudimentary  branches  of 
education,  while  under  the  term  "  music  "  came  all  intel- 
lectual accomplishments.  The  gymnasium,  where  the  body 
was  rendered  supple  and  strong  by  wrestling,  running,  box- 
ing, and  kindred  pursuits,  was  part  and  parcel  of  Greek 
education,  and  was  much  frequented  both  for  pastime  and 
exercise.  There  the  contestants  trained  for  the  celebrated 
Olympic  Games. 

152.  Women  seem  in  the  Homeric  age  to  have  held  a 
higher  position  in  the  household  than  in  later  Position  of 
times.  In  the  historic  period,  the  husband  w°"^^"- 
treated  his  wife  as  a  faithful  slave,  "  something  better  than 
his  dog,  a  little  dearer  than  his  horse."  The  principle  on 
which  the  education  of  women  rested  was,  that  just  so  much 
mental  culture  was  expedient  for  women  as  would  enable 
them  to  manage  the  household,  provide  for  the  bodily  wants 
of  the  children,  and  overlook  the  female  slaves.  Secluded 
in  the  gytieccE'um,  or  female  apartment,  both  before  and 
after  marriage,  they  led  a  secluded  and  narrow  life  ;  so  that 
we  must  think  of  Greek  society  as  destitute  of  the  refining 
and  ennobling  influence  of  cultured  mothers,  sisters,  and 
'vives ;  and  this  fact  resulted  in  some  distincdy  traceable 
defects  in  the  products  of  Grecian  genius.  We  shall  here- 
after see  that  it  is  to  Christianity  that  we  are  indebted  foi 
the  elevation  of  woman  to  her  true  place  in  society. 


-^  A   Procession  of  Suppliants 


130 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


SECTION    III. 
HISTORY     OF     ROME, 

CHAPTER   I. 
GEOGRAPHY    AND     RACES. 

1.  The  histon^  of   the  Romans,   the    last  and  greatest 

people  of  antiquity,  is  now  to  engage  our  at- 
tention.    We  shall  see  how  this  people  comes 
first  to  notice  as  a  village  community  in  the  8th  century 
B.  c,  —  how  it  develops  into  a  vigorous  republic  and  sub- 
dues all  the  other   races   of 
the  peninsula,  —  how  it  push- 
es its  conquests  beyond  the 
bounds  of  Italy,  —  and  how, 
finally,  about  the  time  of  the 
birth  of  Christ,  it  stands  forth 
a  great  imperial    and  world- 
ruling  power.     It  is  a  won- 
derful and   most   instructive 
story. 

2.  Italy  is  the  central  one  of  the  three  great  peninsulas 
Geographical  which  project  from  the  South  of  Europe  into 
features.  ^^  Mediterranean  Sea.  It  has  an  extreme 
length  of  700  miles,  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  chain 
of  the  Alps,  and  is  surrounded  on  other  sides  by  the  sea. 
It  may  be  divided  into  tw'O  parts,  —  the  northern  consisting 
of  the  great  plain  drained  by  the  river  Padus,  or  Fo,  with 
its  tributaries,  and  the  southern  being  a  long  tongue  of 
land  with  the  Apennines  as  a  backbone  traversing  it  from 


GEOGRAPHY  AND  RACES. 


132 


north  to  south.     It  should   be  noticed,  however,  that,  till 

the  time  of   the  Empire, 
the    Romans    never    in- 
cluded the   plain   of   the 
Po  in  Italy.     To  this  sec- 
tion they  gave  the  name 
of     Gallia    Cisalpi'na,    or 
Gaul  on  this  (the  Roman) 
side  of  the    Alps.     Both 
the      northern 
aiid     southern 
sections  of  It- 
aly comprised 
many    distinct 
territorial     di- 
visions,       the 
names  of  whick 
will    best     be 
learned     from 
the  map. 

3.  Italy  was  inhabited,  at  the  earliest  period  to  which  our 
knowledge  carries  us  back,  by  four  principal 
races,  the  Gauls,  Etruscans,  lapyg'ians,  and 
Italians  proper ;  but  the  first  three  are  of  minor  importance 
compared  with  the  fourth,  the  Italians  proper. 

4.  The  Gauls  inhabited  the  greater  part  of  Northern 
Italy  (Gallia  Cisalpina)  ;  they  were  a  branch  pirst  three 
of  the  same  race  that  inhabited  Gaul  to  the  '■*^^®- 
north  of  the  Alps  (France),  and  hence  were  Aryans.  The 
Etruscans  inhabited  Etruria,  a  district  between  the  Arno 
and  the  Tiber.  Their  origin  is  involved  in  great  obscurity, 
hut  it  is  believed  that  this  people  belonged  to  the  Aryan 
stock.  Certain  it  is  that,  long  before  Rome  appears  as  a 
village  on  the  Tiber,  the  Etruscans  had  developed  a  pe- 
culiar civilization :  they  were  great  builders,  and  skilled  in 


Races. 


U2  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


many  of  the  arts  ;  they  delighted  in  auguries,  and  had  a 
strange  and  gloomy  religion.  In  Apulia  and  the  heel  of 
Italy  dwelt  the  lapygians  :  this  people  seems  to  have  been 
a  primitive  race,  quite  distinct  from  the  Italians  proper. 
In  addition  to  these  races,  we  should  also  notice  the 
Greeks  in  Italy,  for  this  people  had  early  planted  so  many 
colonies  on  the  southern  coast  that  they  gave  to  that  dis- 
trict the  name  of  Magna  Grcecia,  or  Great  Greece. 

5.  The  fourth  of  the  races  of  Italy  is  the  one  with  which 

we  shall  be  mainly  concerned  in  Roman  his- 

Italians.  ,-r^,  .       .        ,      "^   _      ,.  ... 

tory.  ihis  is  the  Italiati  race  proper,  which 
occupied  almost  the  whole  of  Central  Italy.  It  was  origi- 
nally a  pure  Aryan  stock,  nearly  related  to  the  Hellenic 
race,  —  a  kinship  which  is  strikingly  attested  by  the  agree- 
ment of  Greek  and  Latin  in  many  words  that  relate  to 
agriculture  and  the  primitive  facts  and  phases  of  life. 

6.  The  Italians  proper  were  divided  into  two  branches, 
the  Latins  and  the  Umbro-Sabelliatis,  the  latter 
including  various  tribes  :  — 

I  Latins, 

T  1  TT    u  ( Umbrians, 

Italians.  <  Umbro-  )  c  v 

J  c  u  1T  \  Sabmes, 

/  Sabellians.  >  „ 

V  \  bamnites,  eta 

Now  it  is  with  the  first  branch  that  we  shall  be  specially 
concerned  in  the  beginnings  of  Roman  history,  —  namely, 
with  the  Latin  branch  of  the  Italian  race  ;  for  it  was  by 
men  of  this  stock  that  were  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
might}'  Roman  state. 

7.  The  seat  of  the  Latins  was  Latium,  a  small  district 
Seat  of  the  o"  the  wcstem  coast  of  Central  Italy,  betAveen 
Latins.  ^j^e  Tiber  and  the  Liris.  Its  limits  are  repre 
sented  in  the  map  on  the  opposite  page. 


Italians. 


PRIMEVAL  ROME. 


133 


CHAPTER    II. 
PRIMEVAL   ROME.  — PERIOD   OF   THE   KINGS. 

8.    The  early  history  of  Rome  is  given  in  an  unbrokeis 
narrative   by  the    Roman  writers,  who   detail   Legends  of 
the   marvels   of    Rome's   descent  from   wide-  ^^'''^  R""^*- 
famed  Troy,  the  landing  of  JEne'as  in  Latium,  the  love  of 
the  god  Mars  for  the 


vestal  Rhea,  her  bear- 
ing twins  by  the  god, 
their  exposure  in  the 
Tiber,  theirbeingsaved 
and  suckled  by  a  she- 
wolf  and  fed  by  a  wood- 
pecker till  found  by  the 
shepherd     Faus'tulus, 
their  finally  restoring 
their  grandfather  to  the 
throne  of  Alba  Longa, 
and  then  their  collect- 
ing  their  fellow-shep- 
herds    and     founding 
a  town    named  Rome 
(from  Romulus,  the  el- 
der of  the  twins),  on  the 
hill  where  they  had  been  miraculously  saved  and  educated. 
9.    These  romantic  legends  were  received  by  the  Romans 
themselves  with  unquestioning  simplicity  ;  but   criticism  on 
they  can  no  longer  be  regarded  as  a  narrative   *^^^^- 
of  real  events.     The  records  of  the  early  days  of  Rome  are 
known  to  have  been  destroyed  when  the  city  was  burned  by 
the  Gauls  (b.  c.  390) ;   and   Livy,  the   earliest   writer   on 


Latiu 

Dominion  of  ^ 
PRIMEVAL  Rome 

SCmL£  or  Miles 


134  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

Roman  affairs  whose  works  have  come  down  to  us,  wrote 
about  750  years  after  the  foundation  of  the  city. 

10.  At  a  very  early  period  the  Latins  in  the  district  of 

Latium  formed  a  confederacy  of  thirty  cities, 

Real  begin-  ,        ,         i       r       1  •    1  1  <■     a  n 

nings  of  at  the  head  of  which  was  the  city  of  Alba 

°"*'  Longa.     Now  it  is  believed  that  Rome  was 

founded  by  a  colony  that  went  out  from  Alba  Longa  with 
the  view  of  establishing  there  an  outpost  of  defense  against 
the  Sabines  and  Etruscans,  whose  territory  adjoined  Latium 
at  that  point.  And,  indeed,  according  to  modern  scholars, 
the  very  name  Roma,  in  place  of  having  any  relation  to  the 
fabled  "  Romulus,"  means  a  march,  or  border. 

11.  The  founding  of  Rome  is  placed  in  the  year  753  b.  c. 
Earliest  his-  And,  Setting  aside  the  impossible  fables  of  the 
'""■y-  Roman  historians,  we  may  say  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe  that  as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  8tli 
century  before  the  Christian  era  there  stood  on  a  height 
on  the  Tiber,  called  the  Palatine  Mount,  a  little  village 
named  Roma,  the  center  of  a  small  township,  consisting 
probably  of  5000  or  6000  inhabitants,  all  of  them  husband- 
men or  shepherds.  A  chain  of  events  which  history  can- 
not now  trace,  but  which  is  indicated  in  a  poetic  manner 
by  a  number  of  early  Roman  legends,  led  to  the  incorpora- 
tion of  Rome  with  two  neighboring  towns,  —  a  small  Etrus- 
can settlement  on  the  Caelian  Hill,  supposed  to  have  been 
called  Lu'cerum,  another  a  Sabine  village  on  the  Quirinal 
Hill,  called  Quirium.  The  Sabines  were  received  on  a  foot- 
ing of  equality,  but  the  Etruscans  on  a  subordinate  footing. 
The  settlement  thus  consisted  of  three  tribes,  —  the  Ramnes^ 
or  Romans,  the  Tities,  or  Sabines  of  Quirium,  and  the  Lu- 
ceres,  or  Etruscans  of  Lucerum. 

12.  Tradition   hands  down  the  names   of   seven   kings 

who  ruled  Rome  during  the  regal  period  (753- 
509  B.C.);  but  great  obscurity  hangs  around 
the  greater  part  of  this  epoch. 


PRIMEVAL  ROME.  1 35 


13.  The  Roman  citizens  were  from  the  earliest  times 
divided  into  two  classes,  —  Patricians  and  Pie-  organization 
beians,  a  distinction  of  great  importance  in  °^  society. 
Roman  history.  To  the  Patricians  belonged  all  magisterial 
offices,  all  the  higher  degrees  of  the  priesthood,  the  owner- 
ship of  the  public  lands,  and  the  privilege  of  using  a  family- 
name.  In  fact,  during  the  early  ages  the  Patricians  alone 
constituted  the  Popidus,  or  people,  in  a  political  sense; 
for  not  only  was  the  senate  chosen  from  their  ranks,  but 
the  sole  popular  assembly  was  the  assembly  of  Patricians, 
called  the  Comi'tia  Curia'ta.  The  Plebeians  at  this  time, 
though  freemen  and  personally  independent,  were  wholly 
destitute  of  political  importance. 

14.  During  the  reign  of  the  sixth  king  of  Rome,  Ser'vius 
TuUius,  called  the  "  King  of  the  Commons,"  an  change  of 
important  change  was  made  in  the  constitution  constitution, 
of  the  Roman  state.  Servius  gave  the  Plebeians  a  share  in 
the  government  by  establishing  a  new  national  assembly 
called  the  Comitia  Ceninria'ia,  or  Assembly  of  the  Hundreds, 
in  which  both  Plebeians  and  Patricians  voted  alike.  It 
was  so  arranged  that  in  the  new  national  assembly  the  old 
families  and  the  wealthy  class  should  have  most  voice. 
However,  notwithstanding  these  restrictions,  the  new  con- 
stitution was  a  great  concession  to  the  people,  as  it  virtu- 
ally admitted  every  free  individual  within  the  Roman  ter- 
ritory to  a  share  in  the  government. 

15.  An  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  seventh  and  last  king, 
Tarquin'ius  Super'bus,  to  undo  these  reforms  End  of  the 
and  to  establish  what  the  ancients  called  a  ^'"2^. 
tyranny,  led  to  the  expulsion  of  him  and  his  family,  and  to 
flie  abolition  of  the  kingly  form  of  government  at  Rome, 
509  B.  c.  Ever  after  this  the  Romans  hated  the  very  name 
of  king. 


136  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


CHAPTER     III. 

THE    ROMAN    REPUBLIC. 

1,     EPOCH  OF  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  (509-390  B.  C). 

16.  The  history  of  Rome  as  a  republic  covers  a  period 
Extent  of  his-  of  482  vears,  —  from  the  termination  of  kingly 
*°''y-  rule,  509  B.  c,  to  the  termination  of  republican 
rule  by  the  establishment  of  the  empire  under  Augustus, 
27  B.  c. 

17.  This  period  naturally  divides  itself  into  four  Epochs. 
Its  four  I-  Epoch  of  the  Struggle  for  Existence,  be- 
epochs.  gjj^j^jj^g  w'x'Cn.  the  establishment  of  the  repub- 
lic and  ending  with  the  Gaulish  invasion  of  Italy,  509-390 
B.  c. 

II.  Epoch  of  the  Roman  Conquest  of  Italy,  from  the  Gaul- 
ish invasion  to  the  complete  subjugation  of  the  peninsula, 
after  the  repulse  of  Pyrrhus,  390-266  b.  c. 

III.  Epoch  of  Foreign  Conquest,  including  the  Punic  and 
Macedonian  wars  down  to  the  beginning  of  civil  strife  un- 
der the  Gracchi,  266-133  b.  c. 

IV.  Epoch  of  Civil  Strife,  from  the  Gracchi  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Empire  under  Augustus,  133  —  27  b.  c. 

18.  When,  at  the  close  of  the  6th  century  (509  b.  c). 
Nature  of  the  Romc  ceascd  to  be  under  kingly  rule,  it  be- 
government.  came  a  republic.  Instead  of  a  king,  two  mag- 
istrates called  Consuls  were  elected  every  year.  In  other 
respects  the  constitution  remained  as  before.  The  first 
consuls  were  Brutus  and  Collati'nus. 

19.  Rome  had  attained  a  high  degree  of  power  under 
Territory  un-  ^cr  kings.  By  a  treaty  made  in  the  second 
der  the  kings,  ygg^^  of  the  republic  with  the  Carthaginians 
(508  b.  c),  a  treaty  which  has  fortunately  been  preserved,  it 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE.  1 37 


appears  that  she  was  mistress  of  the  whole  coast  from  Ostia 
to  Terracina,  and  traded  with  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Africa. 

20.  The  state  of  things  under  the  republic  was  for  a 
long  time  much  less  fortunate.  The  Romans  wars  of  the 
became  engaged  in  contests  with  their  neigh-  ""eputiiic. 
bors,  and  soon  after  the  change  of  government  they  lost  a 
considerable  part  of  their  dominion.  There  were  :  i.  Wars 
with  the  Etruscans ;  2.  Wars  witli  the  Sabines,  Volscians, 
and  yEquians ;  3.  Wars  with  the  ^quians  and  Volscians  j 
4.  Wars  with  the  ^quians  and  Veientines ;  till  finally,  after 
over  a  century  of  strife,  Rome  was  overwhelmed  by  the 
Gauls,  390  B.  c.  It  is  needless  to  enter  into  any  account 
of  these  contests,  and  the  more  so,  that  almost  the  whole 
history  of  this  epoch  is  of  a  legendary  character. 

21.  Leaving  aside  the  details,  however,  we  can  readily 
see  that  this  century  or  more  of  desperate  character  of 
struggle  for  existence  was  in  many  respects  a  ^^^  penod. 
great  era,  and  behind  the  veil  of  legend  we  plainly  descry 
grand  human  figures,  —  the  figures  of  those  stern  old  pa- 
triots who  gave  to  the  name  Roman  its  lofty  significance. 
The  old  Roman  character  was  indeed  a  hard  character,  — 
it  was  stern,  unfeeling,  in  many  respects  cruel ;  for  we  must 
remember  that  Christianity  had  not  yet  come  to  humanize 
men  by  the  consciousness  of  universal  brotherhood.  But 
at  the  same  time  it  had  some  noble  virtues  ;  it  was  of 
heroic  mold,  and,  for  the  work  then  required,  was  doubt- 
less just  what  was  needed.  Below  will  be  found  brief 
sketches  of  a  few  of  the  great  men  of  the  first  epoch. 

GREAT   NAMES   OF   EARLY   ROME. 

Brutus  (Lucius  Junius),  known  as  the  "  Elder  Brutus,"  was  one  of 
the  first  two  consuls.  During  his  term  of  office  the  Roman  state  was 
threatened  both  from  without  and  within.  The  exiled  king,  Tarquin, 
had  retired  to  Etruria,  where  he  began  to  intrigue  for  a  return  to 
Rome.     In  this  he  was  aided  by  a  conspiracy  of  a  number  of  the 


138  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

young  nobility,  and  among  the  conspirators  were  found  the  two  sons 
of  Brutus  himself.  The  plot  being  discovered,  the  consul  would  not 
pardon  his  guilty  children,  and  ordered  the  lictors*  to  put  them  to 
death  with  the  other  traitors,  —  a  memorable  example  of  inflexible 
justice.  Soon  after,  the  Etruscans  espoused  the  cause  of  Tarquin  and 
marched  against  Rome.  When  Aruns,  a  son  of  Tarquin,  saw  Brutus 
at  the  head  of  the  Roman  cavalry,  he  spurred  his  horse  to  the  charge, 
and  both  fell  from  their  horses  mortally  wounded. 
Boratius  (Codes)  is  celebrated  for  his  heroic  "defense  of  tke  bridge." 
The  circumstances  are  these.  Porsena,  lars  or  lord  of  Clusium  in 
Etruria,  had  taken  up  the  cause  of  the  exiled  Tarquin,  and  in  508  B.  c. 
advanced  with  a  large  army  to  the  Mount  Janiculum,  just  across  the 
Tiber  from  Rome.  That  city  was  now  in  the  greatest  danger,  and  the 
Etruscans  could  have  entered  it  by  the  Sublician  bridge,  had  not 
Horatius  Codes,  with  two  comrades,  kept  the  whole  Etruscan  army 
at  bay  while  the  Romans  broke  down  the  bridge  behind  him.  When 
it  was  giving  way  he  sent  back  his  two  companions,  and  withstood 
alone  the  attacks  of  the  foes  till  the  cracking  of  the  falling  timbers  told 
him  that  the  bridge  was  destroyed.  Then  praying,  "  O  Father  Tiber, 
take  me  into  thy  charge  and  bear  me  up  !  "  he  plunged  into  the  stream 
and  swam  across  in  safety  amid  the  arrows  of  the  enemy.  The  state 
raised  a  statue  in  his  honor,  and  allowed  him  as  much  land  as  he 
could  plow  round  in  one  day.  Few  legends  are  more  celebrated  in 
Roman  history  than  this  gallant  deed  of  Horatius,  and  Roman  writers 

loved  to  tell 

"  How  well  Horatius  kept  the  bridge 
In  the  brave  days  of  old." 

Coriolanus  (488  b.  c).  Caius  Marcius,  surnamed  Coriolanus,  from 
his  valor  at  the  capture  of  the  Latin  town  of  Corioli,  was  a  brave  but 
haughty  Patrician.  He  was  hated  by  the  Plebeians,  who  refused  him 
the  consulship.  This  inflamed  him  with  anger,  and  accordingly  when 
the  city  was  suffering  from  famine,  and  a  present  of  corn  came  from 
Sicily,  Coriolanus  advised  the  senate  not  to  distribute  it  among  the 
Plebeians,  unless  they  gave  up  their  tribunes.  Such  insolence  enraged 
the  Plebeians,  who  would  have  torn  him  to  pieces  on  the  spot  had  not 
the  tribunes  summoned  him  before  the  Comitia  of  the  Tribes.  Corio- 
lanus himself  breathed  nothing  but  defiance  ;  and  his  kinsmen  and 
friends  interceded  for  him  in  vain.  He  was  condemned  to  exile.  Ac- 
cordingly he  went  over  to  the  Volscians,  the  enemies  of  his  country- 

•  The  I.tctnrt  were  public  officers  who  attended  upon  the  Roman  magistrate 
•Xach  consul  had  twelve  lictors.  They  carried  upon  their  shoulders/<MC«,  which  wera 
rods  bound  in  the  form  of  a  bundle,  and  containing  an  ax  in  the  middle. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE.  1 39 


men  and  offered  to  head  them  against  Rome.  The  king  of  the 
Volscians  persuaded  his  people  to  appoint  Coriolanus  their  general. 
Nothing  could  check  his  victorious  progress  :  town  after  town  fell 
before  him  ;  and  he  advanced  within  five  miles  of  the  city,  ravaging 
the  lands  of  the  Plebeians,  but  sparing  those  of  the  Patricians.  The 
city  was  filled  with  despair.  The  ten  head  men  in  the  senate  were 
sent  in  hopes  of  moving  his  compassion ;  but  they  v/ere  received  with 
the  utmost  sternness,  and  told  the  city  must  submit  to  his  absolute 
will.  Next  day  the  pontiffs,  augurs,  flamens,  and  all  the  priests  came 
in  their  robes  of  office  and  in  vain  prayed  him  to  spare  the  city.  All 
seemed  lost,  but  Rome  was  saved  by  her  women.  Next  morning  the 
noblest  matrons,  headed  by  Veturia,  the  aged  mother  of  Coriolanus, 
and  by  his  wife  Volumnia,  holding  her  little  children  by  the  hand, 
came  to  his  tent.  Their  lamentations  turned  him  from  his  purpose. 
"  Mother,"  he  said,  bursting  into  tears,  "  thou  hast  saved  Rome,  but 
lost  thy  son !  "  He  then  led  the  Volscians  home.  Some  say  that  he 
was  put  to  death  by  the  Volscians ;  but  others,  that  he  lived  among 
)hem  to  a  greit  age,  and  was  often  heard  to  say  that "  none  but  an  old 
wan  can  feel  how  wretched  it  is  to  live  in  a  foreign  land."  * 
tJncinnatus  (Lucius  Quintius,  458  b.  c.)  was  one  of  the  heroes  of 
old  Roman  story,  with  whose  name  is  connected  a  well-known  spirit- 
stirring  legend.  He  was  a  noble,  but  had  retired  from  popular  tumult 
to  his  farm.  On  one  occasion  the  .(Equians,  who  were  bitter  foes  of 
the  Romans,  had  surrounded  a  Roman  camp  on  the  Alban  hills.  In 
this  emergency  it  became  necessary  to  appoint  a  dictator,  t  and  the 
senate  chose  Cincinnatus.  The  delegates  who  were  sent  to  announce 
this  to  him,  found  the  noble  Roman  engaged  in  plowing  his  own  fields, 
clad  only  in  his  tunic,  or  shirt.  They  bade  him  clothe  himself  that  he 
might  hear  the  commands  of  the  senate.  He  put  on  his  toga,  which 
his  wife  brought  him.  They  then  told  him  of  the  peril  of  the  Roman 
army,  and  that  he  had  been  made  dictator.  Next  morning  before  day- 
break he  appeared  in  the  Forum  and  levied  a  new  army ;  he  then 
marched  against  the  enemy,  and  succeeded  in  hemming  in  the  ^Equi- 
ans, who  were  blockading  the  Romans.  He  forced  them  to  surrender, 
and  made  them  pass  under  the  yoke.|     Cincinnatus  entered  Rome 

•  See  Shakespeare's  drama  of  Coriolanus. 

t  The  Dictator  was  an  extraordinary  magistrate  appointed  in  seasons  of  great  peril. 
He  possessed  absolute  power  for  six  months,  unless  he  sooner  gave  it  up  ;  and  from  the 
time  of  the  appointment  of  the  dictator  all  the  other  magistrates,  even  the  consuls, 
ceased  to  exercise  any  power.  The  first  dictator  was  Titus  Lartius,  appointed  in  the 
year  498  b.  c. 

X  Sub  jugum  [jugum,  a  yoke),  the  origin  of  our  word  subjugate.  The  yoke  was 
formed  by  two  spears  fixed  upright  in  the  ground,  while  a  third  was  fastened  across  them. 


I40 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


in  triumph  only  twenty-four  hours  after  he  had  quitted  it,  and  volun. 
tarily  laid  down  his  dictatorial  power  after  holding  it  but  fourteen  days, 
and  returned  to  his  farm. 

22.  In  addition  to  troubles  from  without,  the  young  re- 

public had  to  meet  internal  difficulties  ;  for  a 

Social  troubles.  ^  .  ^uj^  j-...!. 

quarter  of  a  century  had  not  passed  since  the 
expulsion  of  the  kings,  before  a  struggle  of  classes  arose,  — 
a  struggle  between  the  Patricians  and  the  Plebeians,  the  first 
of  a  long  series  of  social  contests  that  constitute  the  most 
important  portion  of  the  annals  of  the  early  commonwealth. 

23.  It  appears  that  the  Patricians  had  found  an  ingen- 
Oppression  of  lous  way  of  Crippling  the  Plebeians  by  means  of 
the  piebs.  ^-j^g  operation  of  the  Roman  law  of  debt.  In 
primitive  Rome,  as  in  other  ancient  states,  an  insolvent 
debtor  was  liable  to  be  seized  by  his  creditor,  and  kept  in 
chains  or  made  to  work  as  his  slave.  Now  such  had  been 
the  distress  caused  by  the  wars  ever  since  the  establishment 
of  the  republic,  that  multitudes  of  the  Plebeians  had  been 
obliged  to  become  debtors  to  the  Patricians,  who  were  the 
exclusive  proprietors  of  the  state  lands.  Hundreds  had  in 
consequence  fallen  into  a  condition  of  slavery ;  so  that  the 
Plebs  were  thoroughly  disheartened,  and  the  Patricians 
practically  possessed  all  power. 

24.  When  this  state  of  things  became  unbearable,  the 

Plebeians  resolved  upon   quitting  Rome  and 

Secession.  ,     .,  ,.  ,  1      1        -r.  • 

building  beyond  the  Roman  territory  a  new 
town  on  the  Mons  Sacer  (Sacred  Mountain),  about  four  miles 
from  the  city,  493  B.  c.  Thither  accordingly  they  seceded  ; 
but  after  considerable  negotiation  a  compromise  was  made : 
debtors  v/ere  relieved  and  slaves  for  debt  were  set  free 

25.  At  the  same  time  a  still  more  important  change 
was  made,  —  two  magistrates,  chosen  from  the  Plebeians, 
Office  of  ^iid  called  Tribunes  of  the  Plebs,  were  ap- 
tribune.  pointed.  Thcsc  afterwards  became  ten  in 
number.     They  held  office  for  a  year,  during  which  time 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE.  I4I 

their  persons  were  sacred,  and  they  could  nullify  any  de- 
cree of  the  senate  that  they  thought  injurious  to  the  Com- 
mons by  the  word  Veto,  J  forbid  it.  No  one  could  have 
foreseen  how  important  this  office  would  become. 

26.  The  Plebeians  had  gained  an  important  step  in  the 
appointment  of  the  tribunes.  But  there  were  Laws  of  the 
still  many  grievances  under  which  they  suf-  'twelve  Tables. 
fered.  And  one  of  the  most  oppressive  was  that  no  regular 
code  of  laws  existed.  After  many  stormy  debates  it  was  at 
last  decided  (450  b.  c.)  that  a  Council  of  Ten,  called  from 
their  number  Decemvirs.,  should  be  appointed  to  make  a 
code  of  laws,  and  it  was  agreed  that  in  the  mean  time  all  the 
officers  of  the  government  (consuls,  tribunes,  etc.,)  should 
give  up  their  places,  and  let  the  decemvirs  control  the  state. 
The  decemvirs  appointed  for  the  first  year  did  their  work 
well :  they  embodied  the  laws  of  Rome  in  written  form,  in 
the  famous  code  of  the  Twelve  Tables. 

27.  On  the  expiration  of  their  year's  office,  all  parties 
were  so  well  pleased  that  it  was  resolved  to  conduct  of  the 
continue  the  same  form  of  government  for  decemvirs, 
another  year.  But  the  new  decemvirate  acted  very  tyranni- 
cally, and  when  their  time  came  to  au  end  they  continued  to 
hold  their  power  in  defiance  of  the  senate  and  of  the  people. 
Matters  soon  fell  into  so  bad  a  state  that  the  Plebeians  se- 
ceded once  more,  retiring  to  the  Sacred  Mount. 

28.  This  second  secession  extorted  from  the  Patricians 
the  second  great  charter  of  Plebeian  rights.  It  what  was 
was  agreed  that  the  tribunes  should  be  re-  e^'^^'^- 
stored,  and  that  the  authority  of  the  assembly  of  the  tribes 
{Comitia  Tributd)  should  be  put  on  a  level  with  that  of  the 
Centuries.  Two  consuls  were  elected  in  place  of  the  de- 
cemvirs, 446  B.  c. 

29.  The  Plebeians  were,  however,  still  justly  dissatisfied  \ 
the  choice  of  the  chief  executive,  namely,  the  Dispute  about 
consuls,  was  made  exclusively  from  the  Patri-  consuls. 


142  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

cians.  The  Commons  now  began  to  claim  a  share  in  the 
consulate.  This  demand  was  resisted  by  the  Patricians 
with  their  whole  strength  ;  and  when  at  last  the  Plebeians 
prevented  the  raising  of  levies  for  military  service,  the 
Patricians  declared  that  they  would  rather  have  no  more 
consuls  than  agree  to  the  admission  of  the  Plebeians  to  the 
office. 

30.  At  length  the  Patricians  proposed  (444  B.  c.)  that  a 

certain  number  (first  three,  afterwards  six)  of 
anges.  j^^-^^^y  Tribufics,  who  might  be  chosen  equally 
from  Patricians  and  Plebeians,  should  exercise  supreme 
power.  In  the  following  year  two  new  magistrates  called 
Censors  were  appointed  ;  and  as  these  were  chosen  exclu- 
sively from  among  the  Patricians,  it  gave  that  order  consid- 
erable additional  weight,  especially  as  the  censors  held  the 
power  of  determining  the  rank  of  every  citizen,  of  fixing  his 
status  in  society,  and  valuing  his  taxable  property.  More- 
over, though  in  theory  the  military  tribunes  could  be  elected 
from  either  order,  yet  in  fact,  such  was  the  ascendency  of 
the  Patricians  that  usually  only  men  of  their  own  class  were 
chosen  ;  and  it  was  not  till  400  E.  c,  or  about  forty  years 
after  the  remodeling  of  the  government,  that  Plebeians 
were  freely  elected. 

31.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  progress  of  Rome  re- 
Gauiish  inva-  ccivcd  a  great  check  by  an  invasion  of  the 
sion.  Gauls,  who,  under  the  leadership  of  Brennus, 
pressed  southward,  overran  Etruria,  and  having  defeated  the 
Romans  on  the  Allia,  captured  the  cit}^  and  burnt  almost 
the  whole  of  it,  except  the  Capitol,  390  b.  c.  The  Capitol 
held  out  for  seven  months,  until  the  Gauls,  tired  of  the 
siege,  agreed  to  go  on  receipt  of  a  thousand  pounds  of  gold. 
It  is  recorded  that  Brennus  increased  the  stipulated  amount 
by  the  weight  of  his  sword,  which  he  cast  into  the  scale. 
Many  stories  told  by  the  Roman  historians,  respecting  the 
Gaulish  capture  of  Rome,  are  plainly  fictions  j  but  of  the 
fact  itself  there  can  be  no  doubt 


ROMAN  CONQUEST  OF  ITALY.  I43 

I.    EPOCH  OF  THE  ROMAN  CONQUEST  OF  ITALY  (390-abO  B.C.). 

32.  Scarcely  had  Rome  been  rebuilt  with  narrow  and 
crooked    streets    and    small    dwelling-houses,    Plebeian  op- 
when  the  Patricians  again  asserted  the  whole  P^'^ssion. 

of  their  claims,  and  in  particular  revived  the  ancient  laws 
of  debtor  and  creditor  in  all  their  severity.  The  Gallic 
invasions  left  the  Plebeians  in  a  state  of  great  poverty 
and  distress,  and  now  the  severe  measures  of  the  Patricians 
threatened  to  reduce  the  whole  common  people  to  a  state 
of  practical  slavery.     The  contest  came  to  a  crisis  in  376 

B.  C. 

33.  At  this  time  two  bold  and  able  tribunes  of  the  people, 
Licinius  Stolo  and  Lucius  Sextius,  came  forward   Proposals  for 
with  a  plan  to  settle  all  the  difficulties.     They   reform. 

said  there  were  two  evils  to  be  remedied:  1.  Political  in- 
equality ;  2.  Material  want.  The  new  plan  met  the  first  evil 
by  restoring  the  consuls  as  the  chief  magistrates,  and  ap- 
pointing that  one  of  the  two  consuls  annually  chosen  should 
always  be  a  Plebeian.  The  second  evil,  namely,  the  poverty 
of  the  Plebeians,  the  new  plan  proposed  to  mitigate  by  pro- 
viding, first,  that  the  interest  already  paid  on  debts  should 
be  deducted  from  the  capital,  and  the  residue  paid  in  three 
years  ;  secondly,  that  of  the  public  lands,  hitherto  practical- 
ly monopolized  by  the  rich,  no  man  should  hold  more  than 
500  jugera*  while  the  remainder  should  be  distributed  m 
small  portions  among  the  Plebeians  as  their  own  property. 

34.  This  new  plan  of  a  constitution,  known  as  the 
Licinian  Rogations,  was  resisted  to  the  utmost  victory  of  the 
by  the  Patricians ;  but  all  their  efforts  proved  p'*''^- 
unavailing  against  the  firmness  of  the  tribunes,  who  pre- 
vented the  election  of  officers  and  military  levies.  The 
plan  became  a  law  in  367  b.  c,  and  the  following  year  a 

*  Kjugerutn  was  rather  more  than  half  an  acre. 


144  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

Plebeian  consul,  Lucius  Sextius,  was  elected.  All  the  other 
offices,  dictatorship,  censorship,  praetorship,  etc.,  were  soon 
thrown  open  to  the  Commons,  —  so  that  at  last,  after  the 
long  struggle,  perfect  political  equality  was  established. 

35.  For  a  century  and  a  half  since  the  expulsion  of  the 

kings,  Rome  had  been  a  republic,  but  an 
emocracy.  aristocratic  republic :  it  was  now  truly  a 
government  of  the  people.  From  this  time  begins  the 
golden  age  of  Roman  politics.  Civil  concord,  to  which  a 
temple  was  dedicated,  brought  with  it  a  period  of  civic 
virtue  and  heroic  greatness. 

36.  Up  to  the  period  at  which  we  have  now  arrived,  — 
Smaiiness  of  the  middle  of  the  4th  century  b.  c,  —  the 
the  nation.  Romans  were  but  a  small  nation  :  their  terri- 
tory included  but  a  few  townships  on  the  Tiber,  and  the 
whole  number  of  adult  Roman  citizens  at  the  close  of  the 
5th  century  was  under  300,000.  In  the  mean  time  Rome 
was  surrounded  by  petty  nationalities  that  girdled  its 
strength  ;  and  its  wars  thus  far  had  been  mainly  a  "  struggle 
for  existence." 

37.  With  the  settlement  of  political  difficulties  in  the 
Wars  for  do-  middle  of  the  4th  centur)',  we  enter  on  a  new 
minion.  gj-a  of  Roman  history.  The  republic  now 
began  a  series  of  wars  for  dominion.  These  wars  were 
with  (1)  their  immediate  relatives  the  Latins  ;  with  (2)  their 
more  distant  relatives,  the  various  other  Halian  nation- 
alities; with  (3)  the  Greek  setikrnenis  in  Southern  Italy 
aided  by  Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus ;  with  (4)  tlie  Gauls  in 
Northern  Italy. 

38.  History  has  been  too  much  occupied  with  the  record 
Meaning  of  of  battles  and  sieges  ;  hence  we  shall  not  go 
these  wars.  jj^^o  the  endless  and  complicated  details  of 
these  operations.  But  we  must  understand  in  a  general  way 
that  these  Roman  wars  meant  a  great  deal.  Before  Rome 
could  play  its  grand  part  in  the  history  of  the  world's  civili- 


ROMAN  CONQUEST  OF  ITALY.  I45 

zation  it  was  necessary,  first  of  all,  that  it  should  become 
a  great  Nation.  A  great  nation  needs  an  extensive  stage 
on  which  to  pla}*  its  part.  Now  the  wars  by  which  the 
Romans  put  down  the  various  small  and  obstructive  nation- 
alities of  Italy  were  the  clearing  of  the  stage,  preliminary 
io  the  oncoming  of  that  imperial  figure,  the  Mistress  of  the 
World. 

39.  The  series  of  wars  against  Etruscans,  Latins,  Sam- 
nites,  and  Gauls,  sometimes  singly  and  some-  ^ 

.         .  ,  111  •       Samnite  wars. 

times  m  combmation,  is  usually  known  m 
Roman  history  by  the  general  designation  of  the  "Latin 
wars  "  and  the  "  Samnite  wars."  These  wars  filled  the 
greater  part  of  the  half-century  between  343  and  290  B.  c. ; 
and  the  Samnites  were  the  leaders  in  this  onset  of  the  na- 
tions on  Rome,  the  issue  of  which  was  to  determine  whether 
Rome  or  Samnium  should  govern  Italy.  The  Romans 
were  completely  successful ;  and  extricating  themselves  by 
their  valor  from  this  confused  conflict  of  nations,  the  Ro- 
mans found  themselves  masters  of  Central  Italy  (290  b.  c), 
—  Samnites,  Latins,  etc.,  all  their  subjects. 

40.  The  "  Samnite  wars "  were  succeeded  by  a  short 
but  brisk  war,  designated  in  Roman  history  war  with 
"the  war  with  Pyrrhus  and  the  Greeks  in  Py"hus. 
Italy."  Pyrrhus  was  an  able  and  enterprising  Greek  prince 
whom  the  Greek  towns  of  Southern  Italy  —  fearful  of  being 
overwhelmed  by  what  they  called  the  "  conquering  barba- 
rians of  the  Tiber "  —  had  invited  over  from  his  native 
country  to  help  them  as  champion  of  a  Greek  city. 

41.  Pyrrhus   came    over  with  a  force  of   25,000   troops 
and  20  elephants.     In   the   first  battle  (Pan-   ^, 

J      .  „     ^  \      T        T^  r         1  1        Narrative. 

dosia,  280  B.  c.)  the  Romans  fought  stoutly, 
until  what  they  conceived  to  be  gigantic  gray  oxen  (the 
elephants)  came  thundering  down  upon  them  ;  so  that  the 
victory  remained  with  Pyrrhus.  In  the  next  contest 
also  (Asculum,  279  b.  c.)  Pyrrhus  was  successful:  but 
7  J 


140  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

the  Romans  made  him  pay  so  dearly  for  his  triumph  that 
he  is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  "  Another  such  victory  and  I 
am  undone !  "  Not  having  succeeded  in  his  main  object, 
Pyrrhus  quitted  Italy  and  went  to  Sicily ;  but  soon  after  he 
returned,  renewed  the  contest  with  the  Romans,  and  was 
utterly  overthrown  at  Beneventum,  in  275  b.  c. 

42.  The  subjugation  of  Southern  Italy  —  of  all  that  part 

called  Great  Greece — soon  followed,  and  at 
the  close  of  the  year  B.  c.  266  Rome  reigned 
supreme  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  peninsula  of 
Italy,  from  the  southern  boundary  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  to 
the  Sicilian  Straits,  and  from  the  Tyrrhenian,  or  Tuscan, 
Sea  to  the  Adriatic. 

43.  We  must  now  see  how  Rome  consolidated  the  power 
Nature  of  the  shc  had  thus  won,  and  try  to  realize  what 
Roman  state,  manner  of  nation  the  Roman  state  now  formed. 
The  real  governing  power  was  the  Roman  people,  — popidus 
Romanus,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  body  of  free  inhabitants  of 
the  thirty-three  tribes  or  parishes  north  and  south  of  the 
Tiber,  which  constituted  the  Roman  territory  proper, 
together  with  a  considerable  number  of  persons  in  other 
parts  of  Italy  who,  either  from  being  colonists  of  Roman 
descent  or  from  having  had  Roman  citizenship  conferred 
on  them,  had  the  privilege  of  going  to  Rome  and  voting  at 
the  Comitia,  or  Assembly.  The  possessors  of  the  suffrage 
thus  formed  a  comparatively  small  body  of  men,  such  as 
might  be  assembled  with  ease  in  any  public  square  or  park, 
and  these  by  their  votes  decided  on  the  affairs  of  the 
commonwealth,  controlling  thus  the  destinies  of  the  whole 
population  of  Italy,  estimated  at  this  time  at  above 
5,000,000, 

44.  In  addition  to  the  populus  Romanus  there  were  two 

other  classes,  —  the  Italians  and   the  Latins. 

Other  classes.    _,,_,.  ..  ,.,,.  , 

The  Italians,  or  socu,  were  the  mhabitants  01 
the  allied  and  dependent  Italian  states  that  had  submitted 


FOREIGN  CONQUEST.  I4; 

to  Rome.  These  coiuiuuuities  v;ere  almost  ail  peraiuieU  to 
retain  their  own  laws,  judges,  municipal  arrangements,  etc. ; 
but  they  did  not  possess  the  Roman  franchise,  and  hence 
had  no  share  in  the  political  affairs  of  the  republic.  The 
JLatins  were  those  who  belonged  to  cities  having  the  "  Latin 
franchise,"  as  it  was  called,  from  its  having  first  been  given 
to  the  cities  of  Latium  when  conquered.  This  did  not  give 
full  Roman  citizenship,  but  made  it  easier  to  obtain  it. 

45.  Rome  wisely  left  self-government  to  all  the  depen- 
dent and  allied  states,  while  she  secured  her  summary  of 
sovereignty  by  three  rights  which  she  reserved  government. 
to  herself:  i.  She  alone  made  peace  or  declared  war;  2. 
She  alone  might  receive  embassies ;  3.  She  alone  might 
coin  money.  Altogether  it  was  an  admirable  system,  vastly 
superior  to  the  loosely  related  Grecian  states.  It  was  a 
system  that  made  possible  for  the  first  time  in  the  world's 
history  a  great,  as  well  as  a  free,  nation. 

46.  Thus  far  we  have  been  occupied  wholly  with  the  ex* 
temal  wars  and  the  internal  struggles  of  the  General  sum- 
Romans,  and  this  for  the  reason  that  their  con-  '"^''y- 
quests  and  their  political  organization  were  the  main  things 
that  this  remarkable  people  had  yet  accomplished.  It  is  a 
striking  fact  that  there  was  not  yet  even  a  dawning  Roman 
literature ;  in  art,  science,  philosophy,  Rome  had  done  — 
absolutely  nothing.  But,  in  fact,  it  was  in  the  art  of  govern- 
ing mankind  that  Roman  genius  was  to  appear ;  and  it  was 
this  that  showed  itself  in  these  early  years,  —  it  was  their 
valor,  their  probity,  their  patriotism,  their  political  tact,  and 
not  speculation  or  literary  culture,  that  distinguished  them. 

3.    EPOCH   OF  FOREIGN  CONQUEST  (266-133  B.C.). 

47.  The  epoch  of  Roman  history  on  which  we  now  enter 
covers  133  years,  beginning  in  266  B.  c.  and  Extent  of  tfce 
ending  in  133  b.  C     This  is  the  era  of  Rome's  ?"»<»<*• 


148 


HISTORY  OF  ROAfE. 


first  great  foreign  conquests,  embracing  the  Punic  and  Mace- 
donian wars,  and  lasts  down  to  the  rise  of  the  civil  broils 
under  the  Gracchi. 


48.  In  the  middle  of  the  3d  century  b.  c.  the  great 
maritime  power  of  the  Western  Mediterranean 
was  Carthage.  She  was  at  the  head  of  the 
other  Phoenician  cities  in  Africa,  numbering  about  300, 
with  possessions  in  Sicily,  Sardinia,  Corsica,  and  Spain. 
In  government  she  was  a  republic  ruled  by  an  aristocracy. 
The  Carthaginians  were  devoted  to  commerce,  and  had  the 
good  and  the  bad  traits  characteristic  of  a  purely  commer- 
cial people.  The  Romans,  who  were  their  rivals  and  ene- 
mies, represented  them  as  wanting  in  integrity  and  honor ; 
hence  the  ironical  phrase  to  denote  treachery,  Punka  fides 
(Punica  from  Pceni,  the  Latin  form  of  the  name  Phcenicians), 
or  Punic  faith. 

4.9,   It  was  hardly  possible  that  two  such  powers  as  Car- 


FOREIGN  CONQUEST.  I49 


thage  and  Rome  should  not  come  into  collision.     And  it 
was  the  more  likely,  as  the  island  of  Sicily  lay   ^    .      , 

■^ '  ••11     Seeds  of  war. 

between  them,  where  the   Carthagmians  had 

large  possessions,  and  where  the  Greek  cities  were  closely 

connected  with  the  Greek  subjects  of  Rome  in  Southern 

Italy. 

50.  The  pretext  was  not  long  wanting.  The  Mamer- 
tines,  a  body  of  Campanian  mercenaries  who  origin  of  first 
had  seized  the  town  of  Messa'na  on  the  Sicil-  ^""''^  '^*''- 
ian  Straits,  being  threatened  with  destruction  by  the  com- 
bined Carthaginians  and  Syracusans,  applied  for  help  to 
Rome,  and  were  readily  received  into  her  alliance.  From 
this  resulted  the  first  Punic  IFar,  which  lasted  for  twenty- 
three  years  (264  —  241  b.  c).  The  independent  Greek  city 
of  Syracuse  having  very  soon  changed  sides,  the  war  was 
between  the  Romans  and  Syracusans  on  one  side  and  the 
Carthaginians  on  the  other. 

51.  The  war  was  carried  on  chiefly  in  and  about  Sicily. 
The  reduction  of  Agrigentum  (262  b.  c.)  was 

the  first  great  exploit  of  the  Romans.  But  the 
most  remarkable  feature  of  the  contest  was  the  wonderfully 
rapid  development  of  a  navy  by  the  Romans.  At  the  be- 
ginning they  had  no  fleet  at  all,  and  it  is  said  that  they 
took  as  their  model  a  stranded  Carthaginian  galley:  two 
years  afterwards  they  were  able  to  assemble  so  powerful  a 
navy  that  they  defeated  their  enemy  in  a  great  sea-fight  at 
Mylae,  260  b.  c. 

52.  Their  victories  by  sea  emboldened  the  Romans  to 
send  an  army  across  to  Africa,  and  to  attack 

their  enemy  in  his  own  country.  But  the  Ro- 
man army  under  Reg'ulus  was  defeated  at  Tunis,  and  Regu- 
lus  himself  was  made  prisoner  (255  b.  c).  The  war  was 
then  confined  to  Sicily,  where  the  Carthaginians  suffered 
severe  defeat  at  Panor'mus.  In  the  mean  time  disasters  at 
sea  befell  the  Romans,  who  lost  fleet  after  fleet,  until  a  new 


I50  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

navy  raised  by  subscription  took  the  sea,  and  by  the  victory 
at  yEgu'sa  reduced  the  Carthaginians  to  seek  peace,  b.  c. 
241.  The  treaty  compelled  the  Carthaginians  to  evacuate 
Sicily  and  the  adjacent  islands,  to  pay  a  heavy  indemnity, 
and  to  recognize  the  independence  of  Hi'ero,  king  of  Syra 
cuse. 

53.  The  island  of  Sicily,  or  that  part  of  it  which  the 
Province  of  Carthaginians  had  possessed,  was  organized 
Sicily.  jj^^Q  2l province,  and  this  fact  is  notable  as  being 

the  commencement  of  that  new  feature  in  the  Roman  rule, 
namely,  the  institution  of  provincial  goverfiment,  or  that  gov- 
ernment established  by  the  Romans  for  their  possessions 
outside  of  Italy. 

54'  Having  thus  triumphed  over  Carthage,  the  Romans 
Conquest  of  tumcd  their  eyes  northward  with  the  view  of 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  carrying  their  dominion  to  the  Alps.  The 
Gauls  in  the  valley  of  the  Po  (Cisalpine  Gaul)  took  the 
alarm,  and  began  a  movement  towards  Rome.  They  were, 
however,  met  by  three  armies,  and  were  so  thoroughly  pun- 
ished that  in  three  years  all  Cisalpine  Gaul  submitted  to 
Rome,  222  B.  c.  In  the  countiy  were  planted  two  Roman 
colonies. 

55.  The  Carthaginians  felt  that  they  had  been  deeply 
Carthage  pre-  wronged  by  the  Romans,  and  ever  since  the 
pares  for  w£.r.  close  of  the  War  they  had  been  studying  how 
the  injury  done  them  might  be  revenged.  Among  the  advo- 
cates Df  war  at  Carthage  was  the  powerful  Barcine  family, 
at  the  head  of  which  was  Hamil'car  Barca,  who  had  won  fame 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  previous  war.  Under  this  able 
leader  the  Carthaginians  first  directed  their  attention  to 
Spain  (where  they  already  had  a  strong  foothold)  as  a  fit 
"  base  of  operations "  against  the  Romans.  Hamilcar's 
great  object  in  subjugating  Spain  was  to  obtain  the  means 
of  attacking  the  hated  rival  of  his  country.  His  implacable 
animosity  against  Rome  is  shown  by  the  well-known  tale, 


FOREIGN  CONQUEST.  151 


that  when  he  crossed  over  to  Spain  in  235  b.  c,  taking  with 
him  his  son  Hannibal,  then  only  nine  years  old,  he  made 
him  swear  at  the  altar  eternal  hostility  to  Rome.  Hamilcar 
fell  m  battle,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son-in-law  Has'dru- 
bal,  and  when  the  latter  was  assassinated,  the  command  of 
the  army  devolved  upon  Hannibal. 

56.  When,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  Hannibal  was  ap>- 
pointed  to  the  command  of  the  Carthaginian  Hannibal's 
army  in  Spain,  he  carried  the  Carthaginian  campaign, 
line  up  to  the  Ebro  and  besieged  Sagun'tum,  an  ally  of  Rome. 
The  city  fell,  and  Rome  immediately  declared  hostilities. 
The  result  was  the  second  Punic  War,  which  began  in  the 
year  218  b.  c.  Before  the  Roman  army  was  ready  to  take 
the  field,  Hannibal,  who  was  one  of  the  greatest  military 
geniuses  that  ever  lived,  had  crossed  the  Pyrenees  on  his 
way  to  Italy.  He  then  proceeded  to  perform  one  of  the 
most  famous  exploits  on  record :  with  his  army  he  climbed 
over  the  Alps  (218  B.C.),  losing  above  30,000  men,  burst 
into  the  plain  of  Italy,  and  defeated  the  Romans  in  four 
battles,  the  greatest  of  which  was  Cannae,  fought  in  216  b.  c. 

57.  In  Italy  the  career  of  Hannibal  was  most  extraor- 
dinary: for  fifteen  years  (217-202  b.  c.)  he  operations  m 
maintained  himself  in  the  peninsula,  moving  ^'^^'^y- 
hither  and  thither,  keeping  seven  or  eight  Roman  generals, 
and  among  them  the  wary  Fa'bius  and  the  bold  Marcellus, 
continually  employed,  scattering  the  Romans  like  chaff 
wherever  he  appeared,  exhausting  the  finances  of  the  state, 
and  detaching  the  Italian  nationalities  from  their  allegiance. 

58.  It  is  probable  that  Hannibal  might  have  maintained 
himself  in  Italy  for  an  indefinite  time,  and  Roman  strat- 
finally  have  shattered  the  commonwealth  in  ^^^^ 
pieces,  had  it  not  been  that  the  Romans  assumed  the 
offensive  against  Carthage.  A  vigorous  young  soldier, 
Pub'lius  Scipio,  was  sent  into  Spain,  which  he  reduced  to 
the  condition  of  a  Roman  province,  thus  closing  the  main 


f52  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

avenue  by  which  the  Carthaginians  could  send  reinforce- 
ments to  Hannibal  (216-205  B-  c.)-  Hannibal's  brother, 
Hasdrubal,  managed,  indeed,  to  march  from  Spain  across 
the  Alps  into  Italy  (207  b.  c.)  ;  but  his  force  was  met  and 
defeated,  —  and  the  first  intimation  Hannibal  received  of 
his  brother's  arrival  in  Italy  was  the  sight  of  that  brother's 
bloody  head  tossed  contemptuously  into  his  camp. 

59.  In  spite  of  the  cutting  of  his  communications,  Han- 
ciose  of  the  nibal  could  readily  have  maintained  himself  in 
^^'■-  Italy  ;  but  now  Scipio  passed  over  into  Africa, 
and  having  defeated  the  Carthaginians  in  several  battles,  so 
terrified  the  authorities  at  Carthage  that  they  recalled  Han- 
nibal from  Italy.  The  final  battle  of  the  war  was  fought  on 
the  plain  of  Zama  in  Africa,  in  the  year  202  b.  c.  The  vic- 
tory was  with  the  Romans,  and  the  Carthaginians  in  conse- 
quence were  obliged  to  agree  to  a  peace  on  very  severe 
terms.  Scipio  —  henceforward  known  as  Scipio  Africanus 
—  returned  home  and  was  honored  with  the  most  magnifi- 
cent triumph  that  had  yet  been  exhibited  in  the  Roman 
capital. 

60.  Several  years  after  this  time  Hannibal  had  to  flee 
Anecdote  of  from  his  country,  and  he  spent  the  last  years 
Hannibal.  ^f  j^jg  jj£g  jj^  Syria  and  Bith}Ti'ia.  By  a  strange 
coincidence  of  fortune,  his  victor,  Scipio,  had  also  to  go 
into  exile,  and  resided  for  a  while  at  Ephesus,  where  Hanni- 
bal was  at  the  time.  Many  friendly  conversations  passed 
between  them,  and  in  one  of  these  the  Roman  is  said  to 
have  asked  the  Carthaginian  "  whom  he  thought  the  greatest 
general."  Hannibal  immediately  replied,  "  Alexander;  be- 
cause that,  with  a  small  body  of  men,  he  had  defeated  very 
numerous  armies,  and  had  overrun  a  great  part  of  the 
world."  "  And  who  do  you  think  deserves  the  next 
place  ? "  continued  the  Roman.  "  Pyrrhus,"  replied  the 
other ;  "  he  first  taught  the  method  of  forming  a  camp  to 
the  best  advantage."      "And  whom  do  you  place  next  to 


FOREIGN  CONQUEST  1 53 

those  ? "  said  Scipio.  "  Myself,"  said  Hannibal ;  at  which 
Scipio  asked,  with  a  smile,  "  Where,  then,  would  you  have 
placed  yourself  if  you  had  conquered  me  ?  "  "  Above  Al- 
exander," replied  the  Carthaginian,  "  above  Pyrrhus,  and 
above  all  other  generals." 

61.  An  interval  of  fifty  years  separates  the  second  from 
the  third  and  last  war  with  Carthage,  and  sev-  Third  Punic 
eral  important  events  that  we  shall  have  to  re-  '^^^^ 

late  happened  in  the  interim  ;  but  it  will  give  us  a  clearer 
view  if  we  close  here  the  whole  history  of  Rome's  dealings 
with  Carthage. 

62.  The  third  Punic  war  was,  on  the  part  of  Rome, 
utterly  causeless.  The  second  had  made  Blame  of  the 
Carthage  a  dependent  ally  of  Rome,  but  still  ^^'■• 

left  it  free  in  its  internal  government.  Now,  a  consid- 
erable party  at  Rome  were  bent  on  reducing  Carthage 
to  a  position  of  complete  subjugation.  At  the  head  of 
this  party  was  Porcius  Cato,  the  censor,  who  then  swayed 
the  decisions  of  the  Roman  senate.  So  bitterly  hostile 
was  he  to  Carthage,  that  for  years  he  closed  every  speech 
he  made  —  no  matter  on  what  subject  —  with  the  words, 
Delen'da  est  Carthago,  "  Carthage  must  be  destroyed ! " 

63.  The  humbled  Carthaginians  made  every  submission, 
yielding  up  their  arms,  their  ships,  and  their  Roman  harsh- 
munitions  of   war,  and  they  even   offered  to   "^^^* 

give  up  their  own  government  and  become  subjects  of 
Rome.  When,  however,  Rome  proposed  to  raze  their  sea- 
side city,  and  send  them  to  live  inland,  a  wail  of  indigna- 
tion and  despair  went  up  from  Carthage,  and  the  inhabitant? 
determined  to  sacrifice  their  lives  rather  than  submit  to  the 
savage  mandate. 

64.  The  third  Punic  War  began  in  149  b.  c.  The 
"  Siege  of  Carthage  "  which  lasted  four  years,  siege  of  Car- 
and  was  conducted  on  the  part  of  the  Romans   ^^age. 

by  the  younger  Scipio,  known  as  Scipio  .^milia'nus,  was  the 


154  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

one  event  of  this  final  struggle.  Carthage  was  withouC 
ships,  without  allies,  almost  without  arms  ;  yet  she  main- 
tained the  contest  with  the  courage  of  despair :  the  women 
gave  their  tresses  to  make  bowstrings,  and  the  men  poured 
out  their  blood  most  lavishly.  But  it  was  all  in  vain.  The 
city  was  taken,  and,  being  set  on  fire,  the  flames  continued 
to  rage  for  seventeen  days.  Thus  was  Carthage  with  its 
walls  and  buildings,  the  habitations  of  700,000  people,  razed 
to  its  foundations.  The  Carthaginian  territory  was  then 
made  into  the  ^orc^zn  Province  of  Africa,  under  a  proconsul, 
and  the  seat  of  government  was  fixed  at  Utica  (b.  c.  146). 

65.  It  is  related  that  when  Scipio  beheld  Carthage  in 
Anecdote  of  flames  his  soul  was  softened  by  reflections  on 
Scipio.  fj^g  instability  of  fortune,  and  he  could  not 
help  anticipating  a  time  when  Rome  herself  should  expe- 
rience the  same  calamities  as  those  which  had  befallen  her 
unfortunate  competitor.  He  vented  his  feelings  by  quoting 
from  Homer  the  lines  in  which  Hector  predicts  the  fall  of 
Troy :  — 

"  Yet  come  it  will,  the  day  decreed  by  fates  ; 
(How  my  heart  trembles,  while  my  tongue  relates!) 
The  day  when  thou,  imperial  Troy,  must  bend, 
And  see  thy  warriors  fall,  thy  glories  end." 

66.  Meantime  the  Roman  dominion  had  been  enlarged 
Subjugation      bv  the  annexation  of  Macedonia  and  Greece. 

of  Macedon  ^  ,  .  i  ^  r 

and  Greece.  While  the  late  war  was  going  on,  the  ruler  of 
Macedon,  King  Philip  V.,  became  embroiled  with  Rome, 
owing  to  his  having  made  a  treaty  with  Hannibal.  The 
Romans  made  a  campaign  against  Philip,  and  in  this  con- 
test some  of  the  Greek  states  sided  with  Macedon  and  some 
with  Rome.  The  result  was  that  in  the  battle  of  Cynos- 
ceph'alag,  in  Thessaly,  197  B.  c,  the  power  of  Macedon  was 
broken  and  Philip  had  to  become  a  dependent  ally  of  Rome. 
A  little  later  the  Macedonians  were  completely  crushed  at 
Pydna  (168  B.  c),  and  came  still  more  under  the  power  of 


FOREIGN  CONQUEST.  1 55 

Rome.  In  the  year  146  b.  c.  (same  year  as  the  destruc- 
tion of  Carthage)  Corinth  was  captured  and  burned.  No 
further  resistance  was  offered  to  the  victorious  Romans, 
and  Greece  was  made  into  a  Roman  province  under  the 
name  of  Achaia. 

67.  At  the  commencement  of  the  period  of  conquesi 
(266  —  11^  B.  c),  the  Roman  dominion  was  con-   Review  of 

11  •         1         r    T      1  -1  •      Rome's  con- 

fined to  the  penmsula  of  Italy ;  at  its  close  it   quests. 

extended  over  the  whole  of  Southern  Europe  from  the 
shores  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  straits  of  Constantinople,  over 
the  chief  Mediterranean  islands,  and  over  a  portion  of 
North  Africa,  while  farther  east,  in  Egypt,  Asia  Minor,  and 
Syria,  her  influence  was  paramount.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  period  Rome  was  merely  one  of  the  "  Great  Powers  " 
of  the  world  as  it  then  was,  —  that  is,  she  ranked  with  Car- 
thage, Macedonia,  and  the  kingdom  of  the  Seleucidae ;  at 
its  close  she  was  clearly  the  sole  Great  Power  left. 

68.  The  Roman  dominion  now  became  a  duality,  —  it 
was  "  Italy  and  the  Provinces."  The  politi-  Rule  of  the 
cal  state  of  Italy  was  that  described  in  the  last  P'-°vinces. 
section  ;  but  the  addition  of  the  conquered  countries  result 
ed  in  the  new  feature  of  Roman  rule  called  Provincial  gov- 
ernment. Retaining  their  native  habits,  religion,  laws,  etc., 
the  inhabitants  of  every  province  were  governed  by  a  mili- 
tary president,  sent  from  Rome,  with  a  staff  of  officials. 
The  provincials  were  required  to  pay  taxes  in  money  and 
kind ;  and  these  taxes  were  farmed  out  by  the  censors  tc 
Roman  citizens,  who,  under  the  name  of  Publicans,  settled 
irj  the  various  districts  of  the  provinces.  ThuSj  like  a  net- 
work proceeding  from  a  center,  the  political  system  of  the 
Romans  pervaded  the  mass  of  millions  of  human  beings  in- 
habiting the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  ;  and  a  vast  popu- 
lation of  various  races  and  languages  were  all  bound  to- 
gether by  the  cohesive  power  of  Roman  rule. 

69.  The  luster  of  the  Roman  power  and  the  glory  of  the 


156  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

Roman  name  were  now  at  their  height.  The  eyes  of  all 
Grandeur  of  the  woHd  Were  HOW  On  Italy,  the  young  re- 
Rome.  pubHc  of  the  West.  Into  Rome  all  talents,  all 
riches,  flowed.  What  a  grand  thing  in  those  days  to  be  a 
Roman  citizen ;  so  that,  wherever  one  walked,  —  in  Spain, 
in  Africa,  even  in  once  proud  Athens,  —  he  was  followed, 
feasted,  flattered  !  What  a  career  was  opened  to  those  who 
wished  for  wealth  or  aspired  to  fame !  But  in  the  very  sun- 
burst of  Rome's  glor)',  the  germs  of  decay  were  ripening. 

70.  On  the  Romans  themselves  the  effect  of  their  foreign 
Effect  of  con-  conqucsts  was  both  good  and  bad ;  but  per- 
quests.  haps  the  evil  outweighed  the  good.  Let  us 
glance  at  both  sides  of  the  shield. 

71.  The  wealth  poured  into  Rome  by  the  conquest  of 

Carthage,  of  Greece,  and  the  East,  and  the  con- 

Public  works.  ° 

siderable  revenue  derived  from  the  permanent 
taxation  of  the  provinces,  enabled  the  Romans  to  carry  out 
a  great  system  of  public  works.  Throughout  Italy  splendid 
military  roads  which  remain  to  this  day  Avere  built,  the 
provinces  were  traversed  by  imperial  highways,  and  fine 
stone  bridges  were  thrown  across  the  Tiber.  In  Rome 
splendid  public  buildings  were  erected,  the  city  was  sewered, 
the  streets  were  paved  (174  B.  c),  two  new  aqueducts  (the 
Marcian,  built  in  144  b.  c,  at  a  cost  of  %  10,000,000)  were 
constructed ;  and  it  may  be  noted  that  the  Consul  P.  Scipic 
Nasi'ca,  in  159  B.  c,  set  up  in  Rome  a  public  dep'sydra,  or 
water-clock,  the  citizens  having  for  six  centuries  gone  on 
without  any  accurate  means  of  knowing  the  time  by  night 
as  well  as  day. 

72.  The  effect  on  Rome  of  the  conquest  of  Greece  and 
Influence  of  the  Hellenized  East  was  very  marked.  Greek 
Greece.  rhctoricians,  scholars,  tragedians,  flute-players, 
and  philosophers  in  large  numbers  took  up  their  abode 
in  Rome.  The  city  swarmed  with  Greek  schoolmasters. 
Greek  tutors  and  philosophers,  who,  even  if  they  were  not 


FOREIGN  CONQUEST.  15? 


slaves,  were  as  a  rule  accounted  as  servants,  were  now  per- 
manent inmates  in  the  palaces  of  Rome  ;  people  speculated 
in  them,  and  there  is  a  statement  that  the  sum  of  200,000 
sesterces  ($  10,000)  was  paid  for  a  Greek  literary  slave  of 
the  first  class. 

73.  The  stimulus  of  Greek  literary  culture  led  to  native 
production,  and  in  the  2d  century  B.  c.  we  pirst  ntera. 
have  the  beginning  of  that  Latin  literature  '^"'^^• 
which  we  still  read.  Though  the  great  period  of  Roman 
letters  did  not  come  till  a  century  after  this  time  (age  of 
Augustus),  yet  there  arose  a  number  of  writers  of  no  ordi- 
nary power.  Among  these  should  be  mentioned  Ennius, 
the  father  of  Roman  poetry ;  Plautus,  his  contemporary,  a 
man  of  rich  poetic  genius ;  the  elder  Cato,  the  first  prose 
writer  of  note  ;  and  Terence,  the  most  famous  of  the  comic 
poets. 

74.  While  the  Romans  were  in  some  respects  benefited 
by  contact  with  the  superior  though  decaying 

culture  of  Greece,  they  also  learned  a  great 

deal  that  was  debasing.     They  became  effeminate,  luxurious, 

and  corrupt  in  morals ;  marriage  was  not   respected ;  the 

old  Roman  faith  waned,  and  it  was  said  that  two  augurs 

could  not  meet  in  the  street  without  laughing  in  each  other's 

face. 

75-  The  political  system  of  Rome  now  began  to  lead  to 
a  dreadful  state  of  public  corruption.  The  Political  cor- 
Roman  government  was  devised  for  the  rule  of  """P^ion- 
a  city :  all  power  was  in  the  hands  of  the  civic  voters,  and 
when  there  came  to  be  great  prizes,  in  the  way  of  great 
offices  at  home  and  abroad,  the  voters  began  to  find  that 
their  votes  were  worth  something,  and  unblushing  bribery 
and  corruption  became  common. 

76.   The  demands  of  the  large  planters  and  merchants 
led  to  a  great   extension  of  the   slave-trade.   Growth  of 
All  lands  and  all  nations  were  laid  under  con-  'la^ery. 


I5»  mSTORY  OF  ROME. 

tribution  for  slaves,  but  the  places  where  they  were  chiefly 
r:»])tuic(l  were  Syii;i  aiul  llie  interior  of  Asia  Minor.  It  is 
proh.iMc  that  at  the;  |)(!rio(l  at  whicii  we  have  now  arrived 
(middle-  of  the  2(1  ccnlMry  ii.  c.)  there  were  twelve  million 
slaves  a[;ainst  live  million  free  inhabitants  in  the  Italian 
peninsula,  —  a  most  lamentable  state  of  things! 

77.  In  ailclition  (o  the  slaves,  Jtaly  became  lillcd  up  witi 
Corruption  of  '^  uiolley  parasitic  population  from  Asia  and 
'''°'"*-  Africa  and  all  the  conquered  lands,  —  and  the 
result  of  this  intermixture  soon  appeared  in  a  marked  dcf^en 
eracy  in  the  Roman  nice  itself. 

78.  I'he  decay  of  old  Roman  virtue  became  at  the  same 

time  apparent  in  a  jrreat   increase  of  lu.xury, 

Ltuxurv. 

This  displayed  itself  in  houses,  villas,  pleasure- 
gardens,  fish-ponds,  dress,  food,  and  drink.  Extravagant 
prices  —  as  much  as  100,000  sesterces  (jjl  5000)  —  were  paid 
for  an  ex(|uisite  cook.  Costly  foreign  delicacies  and  wines 
were  afrectcul,  and  the  Romans  in  their  banquets  vied  with 
one  another  in  displaying  their  hosts  of  slaves  ministering 
to  luxury,  their  bands  of  musicians,  their  dancing-girls,  their 
purpli!  hangings,  their  carpets  glittering  witli  gold  or  picto- 
rially  embioidi-rcd,  and  their  rich  silver  plate. 

79.  In  the  midst  of  the  system  there  were  not  wanting 

some  noble  patterns  of  the  old  Roman  type, 
among  whom  should  be  named  (^ato,*  who 
kept  up  .1  constant  protest  all  his  life  against  the  growing 
luxury  of  his  coimtrymen,  atul  dii'd  declaring  that  they 
were  a  degenerate  race.  Such  men  were,  however,  rare 
exceptions  ;  and  we  shall  hereafter  see  that  the  evil  system 
already  operative  in  the  2d  century  went  on  increasing, 
till  finally,  a  century  afterwards,  it  resulted  in  the  total 
subversion  of  the  republic. 

•  Porciiis  Cato,  fuqiiontly  siirnamcd  Calo  the  Censor,  was  born  11.  c 
234.  Me  distinguished  himself  in  the  Tunic  wars  and  in  various  public 
services,  but  he  was  still  more  noted  for  his  pure  morality  and  strict 
virtue.     Me  died  in  149  B.  c,  at  the  age  of  eighty-tlve. 


CIl^TL  STRIFE.  1 59 


4.     EPOCH    OF   CIVIL   STRIFE  (133-27  B.C.). 

80.  The  picture  just  given  of  the  state  of  Roman  society 
in  the  last  half  of  the  2d  century  b.  c.  prepares  Bad  state  of 
us  for  the  period  of  civil  strife  on  which  we  now  s°"ety. 
enter.  A  number  of  causes  had  resulted  in  the  growth  of 
an  aristocracy  founded  purely  on  wealth ;  the  old  division 
of  society  into  patricians  and  plebeians  had  ceased,  and 
there  arose  a  still  worse  division  into  classes,  —  the  rich 
and  the  poor.  The  old  peasant  proprietors  of  Italy  had 
become  practically  extinct,  and  their  place  was  supplied 
by  hordes  of  slaves.  The  cities,  and  especially  Rome, 
were  filled  by  vast  masses  of  people,  not  living,  as  the 
traders,  artisans,  and  laborers  of  our  cities  do,  by  honest 
Industry,  but  subsisting  in  noisy  idleness  upon  the  price 
of  their  votes.  Roman  society,  in  fact,  had  ceased  to  have 
finy  middle  class,  and  was  divided  between  two  extremes, 
—  grandees  and  paupers. 

81.  The  cause  of  the  poor  against  the  rich  was  taken  up 
by  a  noble  young  tribune  of  the  people  named 

Tiberius  Gracchus.      Tiberius  and   his  after- 
wards distinguished  younger  brother  Caius  (the  two  being 
known  in  history  as  the  Gracchi)  were  sons  of  a  noble  Ro- 
man matron,  Cornelia,  daughter  of  the  great  Scipio  Afri- 
canus. 

82.  Tiberius   Gracchus   proposed    a   land-law  (agrarian 
law),  which  was    practically  a  revival   of   the 

r  .   ■    .  ,  .,..,,  ,  ...       Agrarian  law. 

.Licinia7i  la7u :  it  limited  the  amount  of  public 
land  that  could  be  held  by  any  one  individual  to  500  jugera, 
and  provided  for  the  distribution  of  the  rest  in  small  home- 
steads. The  aristocracy  immediately  raised  a  storm,  and 
induced  another  tribune  to  veto  the  measure.  Now,  accord- 
ing to  the  Roman  code,  no  proposal  could  become  law 
unless  all  the  tribunes  were  unanimous.  Gracchus  then 
secured  a  popular  vote  expelling  his  colleague  from  the 


l60  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

tribuneship,  and  the  land-law  was  passed  by  the  people, 
B.  c.  133.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  Gracchus's  year  of 
office  expired,  and  he  came  up  for  re-election.  The  nobles 
resolved  to  prevent  this  by  violence. 

83.  Gracchus,  learning  this,  bade  his  friends  arm  them- 

selves with  staves  ;  and  when  the  people  began 
to  inquire  the  cause  of  this,  he  put  his  hand  to 
his  head,  intimating  that  his  life  was  in  danger.  Some  of 
his  enemies  ran  to  the  senate  and  reported  that  Tiberius 
openly  demanded  a  crown.  A  body  of  the  aristocrats 
with  their  clients  and  dependents  then  rushed  among  the 
unarmed  crowd,  and  murdered  Gracchus  with  300  of  his 
adherents, —  133  b.  c. 

84.  Tiberius  Gracchus  was  dead,  but  his  work  remained  j 
Agrarian  that  is  to  Say,  the  measure  which  he  had  pro- 
struggie.  posed  was  law,  and  the  commissioners  intrusted 
with  the  task  of  allotting  the  lands  prosecuted  their  labors 
for  two  or  three  years.  The  nobles,  however,  obstructed  the 
work  as  much  as  possible,  so  that  between  them  and  the 
champions  of  the  people  there  was  a  continuous  struggle. 

85.  This  struggle  became  still  more  fierce  when  Caius 
The  younger  Gracchus,  ten  years  after  the  death  of  his 
Gracchus.  brother,  claimed  and  obtained  the  tribuneship^ 
and  then  took  up  that  brother's  work.  The  agitation  fo^ 
the  agrarian  law  was  renewed,  an  enactment  was  made  for 
a  monthly  distribution  of  corn  to  the  city  poor,  and  vari- 
ous other  reforms  were  proposed  by  him.  After  holding 
the  tribuneship  for  two  years,  however,  he  lost  the  office 
through  the  intrigues  of  his  opponents.  The  nobles  were 
determined  to  crush  Gracchus ;  accordingly,  at  one  of  the 
public  assemblies  they  attacked  the  partisans  of  the  popular 
leader,  and  there  ensued  a  bloody  combat  (121  b.  c.)  in 
which  3000  of  his  adherents  were  slain.  Gracchus  himself 
fled  into  a  wood  across  the  Tiber  ;  but,  being  pursued,  he 
chose  to  die  by  the  hands  of  a  faithful  slave  rather  than 
lall  into  the  power  of  his  enemies. 


CIVIL  STRIFE. 


I6l 


86.  The  ill-will  between  the  nobles  and  the  people  con- 
tinued just  as  bitter  after  the  death  of  Grac-  RiseofMarius 
chus  ;  and  matters  finally  shaped  themselves  in  ^""^  Suiia. 
such  a  way  that  the  nobles,  or  senatorial  party,  came  to  be 
represented  by  a  leader  named  Sulla,  and  the  democracy,  or 
Commons,  by  another  called  Marius.  These  men  came  to 
prominence  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  wars  in  which 
Rome  was  engaged  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  after  the 
time  of  which  we  have  been  speaking ;  and  finally  they  ac- 
quired such  power  as  to  bring  on  a  civil  strife  that  deluged 
Italy  with  blood. 

87.  The  wars  just  referred  to  were :  the  Jugurthine  war 
(ill -106   B.  c),  the  war  against  the  Cimbri   wars  of  the 
(113-101   B.C.),  and  the   Social  war  (90-89   Period. 

B.  c),  with  the  details  of  which  we  need  not  concern  our- 
selves ;  but  the  fourth  contest  vi^as  of  more  moment,  and 
needs  notice  here.     This  was  the  Mithridatic  war. 


1 62  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

88.  Mithrida'tes,  King  of  Pontus,  a  bold  and  able  sol- 
Design  of  dier,  formed  the  design  of  uniting  the  Asiatic 
Mithndates.  states  and  Greece  in  a  vast  confederacy  against 
the  Roman  dominion.  He  began  by  causing  about  80,000 
Romans  who  dwelt  in  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor  to  be  massa- 
cred in  one  day  (88  b.  c).     He  then  invaded  Greece. 

89.  The  command  in  this  important  war  was  eagerly 
Mithridatic  sought  by  both  Marius  and  Sulla.  Sulla  pre- 
^^''-  vailed ;  he  was  elected  consul  and  put  in  com- 
mand. Marius,  being  chagrined  at  this,  succeeded  in 
having  the  popular  party  set  aside  Sulla.  But  the  aristo- 
cratic general  marched  to  Rome  and  compelled  Marius  to 
flee  into  Africa.  Sulla  then  set  out  for  Greece,  all  of  which 
submitted  to  him,  the  army  of  Mithridates  being  defeated 
(86-84  B.  c). 

90.  During  the  absence  of  Sulla,  Marius  returned  to  Italy. 
Marian  mas-  Entering  Rome  in  86  b.  c.  he  filled  the  entire 
sacres.  ^^jjy  yf;\\^  slaughter,  and  in  particular  he  caused 
the  murder  of  the  leading  senators  that  had  supported  his 
rival.  Marius  then  caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed  con- 
sul without  going  through  an  election  ;  but  a  fortnight  later 
he  died. 

91.  Notwithstanding  the  death  of  Marius,  the  Marian 
Sulla's  mas-  part}'  Still  Continued  in  power.  Sulla,  hearing 
sacres.  ^f  ^j^gir  succcsscs,  hastily  concluded  a  peace 
with  Mithridates,  and  hurried  to  Italy  (83  b.  c).  After  a 
severe  struggle,  Sulla  utterly  overthrew  the  Marians.  The 
blood  of  massacre  then  flowed  a  second  time,  —  in  a  yet 
greater  stream.  Lists  of  proscribed  persons,  embracing  all 
who  belonged  to  the  people's  part}',  were  published  evefy 
day,  and  the  porch  of  Sulla's  house  was  full  of  heads. 

92.  Having  put  down  all  his  enemies,  Sulla  caused  him.- 
Suiia's  career  self  to  be  proclaimed  dictator  for  an  unlimited 
and  death.  ^jj^g  ^gj  -^  (-. ")  jje  then  proceeded  to  re-or- 
ganize the  government  wholly  in  the  interest  of  the  aristo 


CIVIL   STRIFE.  163 


cratic  party ;  but  to  the  great  surprise  of  every  one  he  three 
years  afterwards  resigned  his  power  and  retired  to  privat« 
life.  Sulla  died  in  78  b.  c. ;  he  was  honored  with  a  mag- 
nificent funeral,  and  a  monument  with  the  following  epitaph 
written  by  himself :  "  I  am  Sulla  the  Fortunate,  who  in 
the  course  of  my  life  have  surpassed  both  friends  and  ene- 
mies ;  the  former  by  the  good,  the  latter  by  the  evil,  I  have 
done  them."  In  the  civil  wars  carried  on  between  Marius 
and  Sulla  150,000  Roman  citizens,  including  200  senators, 
perished. 

93.  We  have  now  arrived  at  a  period  in  Roman  history 
when  all  the  interest  centers  in  the  struggles  of   struggle  of 

a  few  ambitious  men  for  supreme  power.  The  ^^^^^°'^^- 
grand  days  of  the  republic  were  over,  and  a  war  of  factions 
had  begun.  This  could  end  only  in  anarchy,  and  when  a 
republic  falls  into  anarchy,  a  supreme  ruler  is  soon  wel- 
comed as  a  deliverer  from  its  horrors.  The  only  question 
now  was  who  in  Rome  was  to  be  that  ruler. 

94.  After  the  death  of  Sulla,  the  most  prominent  figure 
among  all  the  men  of  the  aristocratic  party  ^jse  of  Pom- 
was  Cneius  Pompey,  who  had  distinguished  p^^- 
himself  as  a  lieutenant  of  Sulla,  and  afterwards  won  renown 
by  his  management  of  several  important  matters  in  which 
Rome  was  engaged,  —  especially  in  the  suppression  of  a 
formidable  revolution  in  Spain  under  a  very  able  leader 
named  Serto'rius  (77-72  b.  c),  and  in  stamping  out  a  fire 
of  revolt  kindled  by  Spar'tacus,  the  leader  of  a  band  of 
gladiators,  who,  joined  by  a  large  force  of  discontented 
spirits,  kept  Italy  in  alarm  for  two  or  three  years  (73-71 
B.  c).  These  exploits  made  Pompey  a  popular  favorite, 
and  in  the  year  70  B.  c.  he  was  rewarded  by  being  made 
consul  along  with  a  rich  senator  named  Crassus. 

95.  At  the  expiration  of  his  year  of  office  he  retired 
to  private  life,  but  was  soon  called  upon  to  His  doings  in 
suppress  a  formidable  combination  of  pirates   *^*  ^^^*- 


1 64  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

who  infested  the  Mediterranean  Sea  and  had  their  head- 
quarters in  Cilicia  (in  Asia  Minor).  This  task  he  accom- 
plished in  three  months.  These  triumphs,  aided  by  his 
political  influence,  enabled  Pompey  to  procure  the  command 
in  the  war  against  Mithridates,  who  had  renewed  his  scheme 
of  conquering  the  Eastern  Roman  provinces.  He  was 
given  powers  such  as  never  had  been  delegated  to  any 
Roman  general.  This  war  lasted  for  two  years  (66-64 
B.  c),  and  was  marked  by  a  series  of  brilliant  triumphs  for 
Pompey.  He  utterly  crushed  Mithridates  (who  died  by 
self-administered  poison),  as  well  as  his  son-in-law  Tigra'nes, 
subdued  Phoenicia,  made  Syria  a  Roman  province,  and  took 
Jerusalem.  Thus  with  the  glory  of  having  subjugated  and 
settlea  tne  East  he  returned  to  Rome  (62  b.  c),  where  a 
magnificent  triumph  awaited  him.  He  was  in  a  position  to 
make  himself  military  sovereign  of  the  Roman  world,  if  he 
chose  to  avail  himself  of  his  opportunity.  We  must  now  see 
what  had  been  passing  in  Rome  in  the  mean  while. 

96.  There  seem  to  have  grown  up,  after  the  death  of 
The  four  fac-  Sulla,  four  factions  in  Rome  :  the  "  oligarchi- 
*'°"^-  cal  faction,"  consisting  of  the  small  number 
of  families  the  chiefs  of  which  directed  the  senate,  and  in 
fact  governed  the  republic  ;  the  "  aristocratic  faction,"  com- 
prising the  mass  of  the  senators  anxious  to  obtain  the  power 
usurped  by  a  few  of  their  colleagues  ;  the  "  Marian  party," 
including  all  those  whose  families  had  been  prosecuted  by 
Sulla,  and  who  now  began  to  rally,  and  aspire  to  power ;  the 
"  military  faction,"  embracing  a  crowd  of  old  officers  of 
Sulla,  who,  having  squandered  the  fortunes  they  had  gained 
under  him,  were  eager  for  some  revolution  that  might  give 
them  the  opportunity  to  improve  their  condition. 

97.  At  the  head  of  the  oligarchical  faction  was  Pom- 
Leader  of  the  P^y  j  t)ut  during  his  absence  in  Asia  its  rep- 
oiigarchy.  rcscntative  was  Marcus  Tul'lius  Cicero  (bom 
106  B.  c),  who  had  established  his  reputation  as  the  first 


CIVIL  STRIFE.  165 


orator  in  Rome.  He  had  risen  through  various  offices  to 
the  praetorship,  and  at  the  time  Pompey  left  for  the  East 
aspired  to  be  consul.  He  did  not  himself  belong  to  a 
noble  family,  but  still  he  made  himself  the  champion  of  the 
oligarchy.  Though  vain  and  boastful,  he  was  a  virtuous 
and  patriotic  man. 

98.  The  leader  of  the  aristocratic  faction  was  Crassus, 
formerly  the  colleague  of  Pompey  in  the  con-   ©f  the  aris- 
sulship,  now   his  personal    rival.     He  was   a   toc^acy- 
man  of  no  great  ability,  but  his  position  and  his  immense 
wealth  made  him  influential.      (After  prodigious  expendi- 
tures, he  died  worth  %  10,000,000.) 

99.  The  leader  of  the  third,  or  Marian  party,  was  a  man 
six  years  younger  than  Pompey  or  Cicero,  who, 
distinguished  in  youth  for  his  accomplishments 

and  his  extravagance,  rose  in  the  year  65  b.  c.  to  the  office 
of  edile.  This  was  Caius  Julius  Caesar,  —  a  man  of  pre- 
eminent ability,  one  of  the  greatest  that  ever  lived.  He 
was  the  nephew  of  Marius,  and  now  stood  forward  as  the 
leader  of  the  Marian  party.  He  was  of  an  old  patrician 
family,  and  took  up  the  cause  of  the  people  to  serve  his 
own  ends. 

100.  The  leader  of  the  military  faction  was  Catiline,  who 
had  been  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  ferocious  conspiracy  o< 
of  Sulla's  officers.     He  had  a  large  following   Catiime. 

of  debauched  young  patricians  and  ruined  military  men, 
who  thought  they  would  better  their  fortunes  by  making 
Catiline  consul.  Cicero  was  his  rival,  and,  receiving  the 
support  of  the  senators,  was  elected.  Enraged  at  his  defeat, 
Catiline  formed  a  conspiracy  of  which  the  murder  of  Cicero 
and  the  burning  of  Rome  were  parts.  A  woman  betrayed 
the  plot  to  Cicero,  who  denounced  Catiline  with  such  fiery 
eloquence  that  he  had  to  flee  from  Rome.  With  a  band 
of  confederates  he  attempted  to  reach  Gaul ;  but  he  was 
overtaken  in  Etruria  and  slain,  62  b.  c. 


1 66  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

101.  If  Pompey  had  been  really  a  great  and  clear-sighted 
man,  he  could,  on  his  return  from  the  East,  have  easily  put 
Position  of  himsclf  at  the  head  of  affairs.  But  he  was 
Pompey.  fjQj-  really  such.  He  was,  in  fact,  rather  a  lucky 
general  than  a  great  statesman.  The  oligarchic  party  began 
to  distrust  him,  and  as  the  senate  under  the  lead  of  Cato 
refused  to  ratify  his  measures  in  Asia,  he  threw  himself  into 
opposition  and  went  over  to  the  popular  party.  This  brought 
him  into  close  connection  with  Cagsar. 

102.  Caesar  and  Pompey,  finding  that  they  agreed  in 
First  trium-  many  of  their  views,  resolved  to  unite  their 
virate.  forccs.  To  ccmcnt  their  union  more  closely, 
Caesar  gave  his  only  daughter  Julia  in  marriage  to  Pompey. 
For  various  reasons  it  was  found  desirable  to  admit  Crassus 
to  their  political  partnership,  and  thus  was  formed  (60  B.  c.) 
that  famous  coalition  known  in  Roman  history  as  the  "  First 
Triumvirate."  The  object  of  Cassar  and  Pompey  was  to 
thwart  the  senatorial  party  in  every  way,  and  wield  all 
power  themselves. 

103.  The  formation  of  the  triumvirate  was  followed  by 
Elevation  of  the  election  of  Caesar  to  the  consulship  (59  b.  c.)  j 
Ceesar.  ^^^  when  his  year  of  office  expired  he  ob- 
tained for  himself  the  government  of  Gaul  for  five  years, 
and  then  for  another  five.  This  was  probably  the  great  ob- 
ject of  Caesar's  desires.  No  doubt  he  was  already  brooding 
over  the  design  of  making  himself  master  of  Rome  ;  and  for 
this  purpose  he  would  need  an  army. 

104.  During  the  years  58-50  E.  c.  Caesar  made  eight 
His  Gallic  Campaigns  in  Gaul,  forming  the  remarkable 
campaigns.  series  of  Operations  which  he  afterwards  de- 
scribed with  such  pointed  style  in  his  Commentaries. 

The  prominent  points  in  these  campaigns  are  :  He  arrests  the  emi- 
gration of  the  Helvetii ;  expels  the  Germans  under  Ariovistus  (58  B.  a) ; 
completes  the  conquest  of  Gaul  by  subduing  the  Belgae  (57  B.  c),  and 
the   Aquita'ni  (56  B.  c.) ;  invades  Britain  twice  (in  55  and  54  B.C.); 


CTVIL   STRIFE. 


167 


1 68  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


penetrates  into  Germany ;  overthrows  the  Gauls,  who  revolt  repeatedly ; 
conquers  Vercingetorix,  and  entirely  subdues  the  country  (53-51  B.  c). 

105.  The  result  of  his  eight  years'  campaigning  was  that, 
Position  of  ii^  the  Spring  of  50  B.  c,  Csesar  was  able  to 
Caesar.  ^^j-g  ^p  j^jg  residence  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  leav- 
ing the  300  tribes  beyond  the  Alps,  which  he  had  conquered 
by  such  bloody  means,  not  only  pacified,  but  even  attached 
to  himself  personally.  His  army,  which  included  many 
Gauls  and  Germans,  was  so  devoted  to  him  that  it  would 
have  marched  to  the  end  of  the  world  in  his  service. 

106.  Let  us  now  inquire  as  to  the  other  two  members 
Pompey  and  of  the  triumvirate.  During  Caesar's  absence, 
Crassus.  Pompcy  and  Crassus  were  elected  consuls  for 
the  year  55  b.  c. ;  and  when  their  own  year  of  office  had  ex- 
pired both  obtained  important  commands  :  Pompey  received 
the  government  of  Spain,  as  proconsul,  for  five  years,  and 
Crassus  a  similar  appointment  over  the  East.  Soon  after 
this,  Crassus  was  murdered  in  Parthia ;  so  that  the  tri- 
umvirate became  a  duumvirate,  or  league  of  hvo  men,  — 
Caesar  and  Pompey. 

107.  Now  between  these  two  men  there  had  for  some 
Rivalry  of         time  been  a  growing  coldness.     It  was  said 

Ceesar  and  ,  ^  ,  ,111 

Pompey.  that  Caesar  was   a  man  who  could   brook   no 

equal,  and  Pompey  a  man  who  could  suffer  no  superior.     A 
feeling  of   rivalr}''  having   once   arisen,  naturally  grew  till  , 

Caesar  and  Pompey  became  the  bitterest  enemies.  Pompey 
went  over  to  the  aristocratic  party  to  which  he  had  origi-  C 
nally  belonged,  and  having  been  made  sole  consul  for  the  f' 
year  52  b.  c,  he  began  to  exert  his  great  influence  against  v^- 
Ceesar.  In  this  he  was  supported  by  the  nobles,  who'  i\ 
dreaded  Caesar's  immense  power. 

108.  As  the  period  of  Csesar's  command  would  expire  in 
New  compii-  the  year  49  B.  c,  he  had  determined  to  obtain 
cations.  |.jjg  consulship  for  the  year  48  b.  c,  since  other- 
wise he  would  become  a  private  citizen.     Accordingly  he 


CIVIL   STRIFE.  l6g 


demanded,  though  absent,  to  be  permitted  to  put  himself 
in  the  lists  for  the  consulate.  But  it  was  proposed, 
through  the  influence  of  Pompey,  that  Caesar  should  lay- 
down  his  command  by  the  13th  of  November,  50  b.  c.  This 
was  an  unreasonable  demand ;  for  his  term  of  government 
over  Gaul  had  another  year  to  run,  and  if  he  had  gone  to 
Rome  as  a  private  man  to  sue  for  the  consulship,  ther^ 
can  be  no  doubt  that  his  life  would  have  been  sacrificed. 
Caesar,  still  anxious  to  keep  the  peace,  offered,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year  49  b.  c,  to  lay  down  his  command  if 
Pornpey  would  do  the  same ;  but  this  the  senate  refused 
to  accede  to,  and  a  motion  was  passed  that  Caesar  should 
disband  his  army  by  a  certain  day,  and  that  if  he  did  not 
do  so,  he  should  be  regarded  as  an  enemy  of  the  state. 

109.  Caesar  promptly  took  his  resolve :  he  would  appeal 
to  the  arbitrament  of  arms.     He  had  the  en- 
thusiastic devotion  of  his  soldiers,  the  great 

mass  of  whom,  being  provincials  or  foreigners,  cared  very 
little  for  the  country  whose  name  they  bore.  Accordingly, 
in  January,  49  B.  c,  he  advanced  from  his  headquarters  at 
Ravenna  to  the  little  stream,  the  Ru'bicon,  which  separated 
his  own  province  and  command  from  Italy.  The  crossing 
of  this  river  was  in  reality  a  declaration  of  war  against  the 
republic  ;  and  it  is  related  that,  upon  arriving  at  the  Ru- 
bicon, Cassar  long  hesitated  whether  he  should  take  this 
irrevocable  step.  After  pondering  many  hours  he  at  length 
exclaimed,  "  The  die  is  cast ! "  and  plunged  into  the  river. 

110.  Pompey  concluded  not  to  attempt  to  defend  Italy,, 
but  to  retire  upon  the  East,  where  he  would   Retreat  of 
gather  a  great  army  and  then  return  to  over-   Pompey- 
whelm  the  "usurper."     Accordingly  he  retreated  to  Greece. 

111.  In  sixty  days  Cassar  made  himself  master  of  all 
Italy.  Then  marching  to  Rome  he  had  him-  caesar  master 
self  appointed  dictator  and  consul  for  the  year  ^'^  '*^'y- 

48   B.  c.      He   showed   masterly  statesmanship,  and   soon 


I/O  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

brought  the  general  current  of  opinion  completely  over  to 
his  side. 

112.  Meantime,  Pompey  had  gathered  a  powerful  army 
Battle  of  ii'i  Thessaly,  and  thither  Caesar  with  his  legions 
Pharsaiia.  proceeded  against  him.  The  decisive  battle 
between  the  two  might}^  rivals  was  fought  at  Pharsa'lia,  in 
48  B.  c.  It  resulted  in  the  utter  defeat  of  Pompey ;  and  as 
it  left  Caesar  the  foremost  man  in  the  Roman  world,  it  must 
be  regarded  as  one  of  the  great  decisive  battles  of  history. 

113.  Pompey,  after  his  defeat,  sought  refuge  in  Eg}^pt; 
Fate  of  but  he  was  assassinated  by  the  orders  of  Ptol- 
Pompey.  cmy,  whcu  Seeking  to  land  on  the  coast  of  that 
country.  Csesar,  who  followed  in  pursuit,  did  not  hear  of 
his  death  until  his  arrival  in  Alexandria,  where  messengers 
from  Ptolemy  brought  him  Pompey's  head.  Caesar,  who 
was  both  a  generous  man  and  a  compassionate  foe,  turned 
with  horror  from  the  spectacle,  and  with  tears  in  his  e^es 
gave  orders  that  the  head  should  be  consumed  with  the 
costliest  spices. 

114.  At  Alexandria  Csesar  became  bewitched  by  Cleopa- 
Caesar  in  the  tra,  the  young,  bcautiful,  and  fascinating  queen 
East.  Qf  Eg}pt.  He  even  mixed  himself  up  with  a 
quarrel  that  was  going  on  between  her  and  her  younger 
brother  Ptolemy,  to  whom,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country,  she  was  married,  and  with  whom  she  shared  the 
throne.  This  intermeddling  led  Caesar,  who  had  but  a 
small  force  with  him,  into  conflict  with  the  troops  of  the 
king.  A  fierce  battle  was  fought  in  the  city.  Caesar  suc- 
ceeded in  firing  the  Egyptian  fleet ;  but  unfortunately  the 
flames  extended  to  the  celebrated  Library  of  the  city  of 
Alexandria,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  magnificent  collec- 
tion of  manuscripts  was  burnt.  Caesar  was  finally  success- 
ful :  Ptolemy  was  killed,  and  Cleopatra  was  made  queen  of 
Egypt.  From  Alexandria  Caesar  marched  into  Pontus  to 
attack  Pharna'ces,  son  of  Mithpdates,  whom  he  subdued  sr^ 


CIVIL   STRIFE.  171 


quickly  that  he  described  the  campaign  in  the  most  laconic 
despatch  ever  penned :  Veni,  vidi,  vici,  —  "I  came,  I  saw, 
I  conquered." 

115.  The  Pompeian  forces  that  escaped  from  PharsaUa 
had    estabUshed    themselves    in    the    Roman   caesar's  final 
province  of   Africa.     They  were   commanded  victory. 

by  Scipio  and  Cato.  Caesar  having  settled  matters  in  the 
East  now  proceeded  against  this  force,  which  he  utterly 
destroyed  at  Thapsus,  early  in  the  year  46  b.  c.  Scipio  and 
Cato  killed  themselves.  One  more  rally  the  Pompeians 
made  in  Spain,  but  they  were  defeated  by  Cassar  in  the 
decisive  battle  of  Munda  (March,  45  b.  c). 

116.  Caesar  returned  to  Rome  after  the  battle  of  Thapsus, 
the  master  of  the  Roman  dominion.  The  caesar  and 
republic  went  out  when  Cato  fell  upon  his  *^^  ^*^*^- 
sword  at  Utica ;  the  monarchy  came,  in  with  the  triumphal 
entry  of  Caesar  into  Rome  in  the  summer  of  46  b.  c.  It  is 
true  Caesar  was  not  king  (rex)  in  natne,  but  he  was  so  in  sub- 
stance. His  position  as  chief  of  the  state  was  this  :  he  was  in- 
vested with  the  dictatorship  for  ten  years,  —  an  arrangement 
changed  soon  afterwards  to  perpetual  dictator,  —  and  was 
hailed  with  the  title  of  Imperator  for  life.  The  latter  title, 
Imperator  (meaning  Commander),  was  one  which  belonged 
under  the  republic  to  the  victorious  general ;  but  it  was  a 
temporary  title,  always  laid  aside  with  the  surrender  of  mili- 
tary command.  Caesar  was  allowed  to  use  it  in  a  special 
way  and  permanently,  and  in  his  case  it  had  much  the  mean< 
ing  of  the  term  Emperor^  —  a  word  which  is  simply  Imperator 
cut  short. 

117.  Julius  Cassar  was  a  strong,  clear-sighted  man,  who 
plainly  perceived  that  the  old  political  system  His  views  and 
of  Rome  had  hopelessly  broken  down.  He  character, 
believed  that  peace  and  prosperity  could  come  only  under 
the  firm  and  just  rule  of  one  man.  He  obtained  power  by 
overriding  the  laws,  but  he  designed  to  use  this  power  to  the 


172  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

best  ends.  "  I  will  not,"  he  said  in  one  of  his  speeches, 
"  renew  the  massacres  of  Sulla  and  Marius,  the  very  remem- 
brance of  which  is  shocking  to  me.  Now  that  my  enemies 
are  subdued,  I  will  lay  aside  the  sword,  and  endeavor  sole- 
ly by  my  good  offices  to  gain  over  those  who  continue  to 
hate  me." 

118.  Faithful  to  this  promise,  he  pardoned  all  who  had 
The  work  he  bornc  arms  against  him,  and,  by  making  no 
^^^-  distinction  of  parties,  labored,  and  with  suc- 
cess, to  bring  about  an  "  era  of  good  feeling."  He  instituted 
a  vigorous  and  honest  administration  of  the  provinces ;  he 
encouraged  trade  and  agriculture  ;  embellished  Rome  with 
temples,  theaters,  and  public  places  ;  undertook  to  drain  the 
Pontine  marshes  and  to  dig  a  new  bed  for  the  Tiber ; 
reformed  the  calendar;  and  projected  a  gigantic  series  of 
designs  for  improving  and  extending  the  empire  he  had 
acquired.  Considering  that  from  the  time  of  his  return 
to  Rome  down  to  his  death  there  was  but  a  brief  interval 
of  two  years,  it  is  wonderful  what  he  accomplished. 

119.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Romans  were  well 
Feelings  of  the  Satisfied  to  be  under  the  rule  of  Caesar.  The 
Romans.  republic  was  a  mere  name,  for  liberty  had  ex- 
pired when  the  Gracchi  were  murdered,  and  subsequent 
dissensions  were  merely  contests  for  power  between  differ- 
ent factions.  Hence  the  Roman  people,  weary  of  revolu- 
tion, were  quite  content  to  find  peace  under  the  just  though 
absolute  rule  of  one  master. 

120.  It  is  important  to  recognize  this  as  the  real  state 
Real  cause  of  of  public  feeling,  because  we  shall  now  have 
sination.^^^  ^'  to  scc  that  Cagsar  fell  a  victim  to  assassination,, 
and  it  might  be  thought  that  his  overthrow  was  the  people's 
revolt  from  monarchical  rule.  But  in  truth  it  was  the  act  of 
a  small  knot  of  conspirators  who,  with  the  cry  of  "  Liberty 
and  the  Republic  "  in  their  mouths,  did  away  with  the  Im 
perator  to  serve  their  own  ends. 


CIVIL  STRIFE.  173 


121.  The  chiefs  of  the  conspiracy  were  Caius    Cassius 
and  Marcus  Junius  Brutus.     Both  had  received   xhe  conspir- 
great  favors  from  Caesar ;  but  they  thought  they  ^'^y- 

had  not  been  honored  enough,  and  they  were  intensely 
jealous  of  the  dictator's  greatness.  These  were  joined  by 
other  malcontents,  and  the  plotters  swelled  their  ranks  by 
representing  that  Cassar  designed  to  assume  the  diadem 
and  the  title  of  king;  so  that  the  conspiracy  finally  in- 
cluded about  sixty  senators. 

122.  It  is  not  certainly  known  whether  or  not  Caesar 
thought  of  taking  the  name  of  king.  It  is  caesar-s  am- 
known,  however,  that  the  consul,  Mark  An-  •"^'O"- 
tony,  at  the  feast  of  the  Luperca'lia  in  the  year  45  b.  c, 
offered  a  regal  crown  to  the  dictator :  he  refused  it,  —  it  is 
said  because  he  saw  the  people  showed  displeasure,  —  and 
Antony  had  it  entered  in  the  public  acts,  "that  by  the 
command  of  the  people,  he,  as  consul,  had  offered  the  name 
of  king  to  Caesar,  perpetual  dictator  ;  and  that  Caesar  would 
not  accept  of  it." 

123.  The  plot  ripened  into  a  determination  to  assassinate 
Caesar,  and  the  conspirators  fixed  on  the  Ides  His  assassi- 
(i.  e.  15th)  of  March  as  the  time  of  putting  the  "at'°"- 
design  into  execution.  Rumors  of  the  plot  got  abroad,  and 
Caesar  was  strongly  urged  not  to  attend  the  senate.  But  he 
disregarded  the  warnings  which  were  given  him.  As  soon 
as  Caesar  had  taken  his  place,  he  was  surrounded  by  the 
senatorial  conspirators,  one  of  whom,  pretending  to  urge 
some  request,  seized  his  toga  with  both  hands  and  pulled  it 
violently  over  his  arms.  Then  Casca,  who  was  behind, 
drew  a  weapon  and  grazed  his  shoulder  with  an  ill-directed 
stroke.  Caesar  disengaged  one  hand  and  snatched  at  the 
hilt,  exclaiming,  "  Cursed  Casca,  what  means  this  ?"  "  Ife// 1 " 
cried  Casca,  and  at  the  same  moment  the  conspirators 
aimed  each  his  dagger  at  the  victim.  Caesar  for  an  instant 
defended  himself ;  but  when  he  perceived  the  steel  flashing 


174 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


Person  of 
Caesar. 


C^SAR. 


in  the  hand  of  Brutus  (Marcus  Junius),  he  exclaimed, "  What! 

thou     too,     Brutus!^'       {Ei     tu, 

Bni'te ! )   and   drawing   his   robe 

over  his  face  he  made  no  further 

resistance.  The  assassins  stabbed 

him  through  and  through  ;    and, 

pierced  with  twenty-three  wounds, 

Caesar  fell    dead  at  the  foot  of 

the  statue  of  his  great  rival,  Pom- 

pey. 

124.  Julius  Caesar  was  in  his 
fifty-sixth  year,  when, 
on  the  15th  of  March,  b.  c.  44,  he  was  stricken 

down.  His  personal  appearance  was  noble  and  command- 
ing ;  he  was  tall  in  stature,  of  a  fair  complexion,  and  with 
black  eyes  full  of  expression.  He  never  wore  a  beard  ; 
in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  his  head  was  bald  ;  but  being 
quite  mindful  of  his  personal  appearance,  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  covering  the  defect  with  a  laurel  chaplet. 

125.  Intellectually  he  was  distinguished  by  the  most  ex- 
traordinary genius  in  the  most  diversified  pur- 
suits.    He  was  at  once  a  general,  a  statesman, 

a  lawgiver,  an  orator,  a  historian,  a  mathematician,  and  an 
architect,  —  and  as  he  was  pre-eminent  in  all,  he  would  seem 


His  mind. 


truly  to  deserve  the  name  which  Shakespeare  gives  him,  — 

"  The  foremost  man  of  all  the  world." 

126.  Caesar  was  upwards  of  forty  years  of  age  before  he 
Review  of  his  became  prominent  in  public  affairs.  In  the 
career.  xvQ.:^^  fourteen  years  he  subdued  Gaul,  with  its 

swarms  of  warlike  nations ;  carried  the  Roman  eagles  into 
Britain  and  beyond  the  Rhine ;  twice  conquered  Spain ; 
marched  through  Italy  at  the  head  of  the  legions  he  had 
trained ;  overthrew  the  armies  of  Pompey ;  reduced  Egypt 
to   obedience  ,  conquered   Phamaces ;  and   won   his   final 


CIVIL  STRIFE.  175 


triumph  at  Thapsus  and  Munda,  —  a  series  of  campaigns 
that  comprised  fifty  battles,  and  in  which  over  one  million 
of  men  fell. 

127.  Yet  his  warlike  career  was  but  preliminary  to  his 
career  as  a  statesman,  when,  ceasing  to  de- 

,        ,  TT-         •  ^^'s  plans. 

stroy,  he  began  to  create.  His  aim  was  vast 
and  beneficent,  —  nothing  less  than  the  political,  social,  in- 
tellectual, and  moral  regeneration  of  the  decayed  Roman 
nation.  He  accomplished  only  a  small  part  of  his  plan,  yet 
the  work  he  did  still  lives  after  wellnigh  two  thousand  years, 
and  what  of  it  was  wise  and  good  remains  a  part  of  the  per- 
manent possession  of  civilization. 

128.  It  is  said  that  "revolutions  never  go  backwards." 
Brutus  and  his  fellow-conspirators  struck  down  Effect  of  cae- 
Cassar  in  the  name  of  liberty ;  but  the  blow  ^^""'^  death, 
diat  leveled  the  master  of  Rome  did  not  bring  back  the 
republic, —  it  only  insured  the  appearance  of  new  claimants 
for  supreme  power,  and  consequently  new  civil  wars. 

129.  On  the  occasion  of  Caesar's  funeral  the  consul,  Mark 
Antony,  delivered  an  oration  over  the  dicta- 
tor's body,  and  to  such  a  height  did  the  feeling 

of  the  Romans  against  the  plotters  rise,  that  Brutus  and  Cas- 
sius  were  obliged  to  escape  forthwith  from  the  city  to  avoid 
destruction. 

130.  The  condition  of  affairs  left  Mark  Antony  in  some 
respect  the  representative  of  Caesarean  princi-   ^ 

Octavius. 

pies  ;  but  a  more  direct  claimant  to  the  suc- 
cession appeared  in  Caesar's  great-nephew,  Caius  Octavius, 
then  a  youth  nineteen  years  old.  The  dictator  had  adopt- 
ed Octavius  as  his  son  ;  so  his  name  became  Caius  Julius 
Caesar  Octavianus.  Octavius  had  all  the  old  soldiers  on 
his  side,  and  raised  the  standard  of  Caesar's  vengeance. 

131.  At  first  Antony  and  Octavius  were  at  strife ;  but 
finally  they  became  reconciled,  and  associating  second  trium- 
with  them  Lep'idus,  the  "  master  of  the  horse,"   '^"''ate- 


176  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

the  three  formed  the  Second  Triumvirate  (43  B.  c),  and  con- 
certed a  plan  to  divide  among  themselves  the  supreme 
authority.  In  order  to  do  this  it  was  necessary  utterly  to 
crush  both  their  personal  enemies  and  the  forces  of  the 
republic. 

132.  To  accomplish  the  first  object,  they  began  a  system 
Their  proscrip-  of  proscription  more  ruthless  and  bloody  than 
*'°"-  that  of  Marius  and  Sulla.  It  is  recorded  that 
300  senators,  2000  knights,  and  many  thousands  of  citizens 
were  sacrificed.  The  most  illustrious  of  the  victims  was 
the  famous  orator  Cicero,  whose  severe  invectives  against 
Antony  had  procured  him  the  relentless  hatred  of  the  tri- 
umvir. The  aged  patriot,  while  escaping  from  Rome  in 
a  litter,  was  assassinated. 

133.  The  second  object  was  the  destruction  of  the  re- 
Battie  of  Phi-  publican  forces.  Now  Brutus  and  Cassius, 
''PP'  finding  their  position  in  Italy  to  be  desperate, 
had  retired  to  the  East,  where  in  Thrace  they  gathered  an 
army  of  about  100,000  men.  Antony  and  Octavius  pursued 
them  with  a  still  larger  force,  and  the  two  armies  met  at 
Philippi.  The  republican  army  was  totally  defeated  (No- 
vember, 42  B.  c.)  ;  both  Brutus  and  Cassius  killed  them- 
selves. 

134.  The  victors  now  divided  the  Roman  world  among 
Quarrels  of  themsclves,  —  Antony  taking  the  East,  Octa- 
the  three.  ^j^g  ^j^^  Wcst,  and  Lcpidus  the  province  of 
Africa.  But  the  Roman  world  was  scarcely  theirs  before 
they  began  to  quarrel  over  it.  The  feeble  Lepidus  never 
possessed  much  influence,  and  was  soon  robbed  of  his  share. 
After  this  it  was  quite  certain  that  a  contest  between  An- 
tony and  Octavius  could  not  long  be  delayed,  and  each  be- 
gan to  intrigue  against  the  other. 

135.  Antony  made  the  headquarters  of  his  half  of  the 
Conduct  of  Roman  dominion  at  Alexandria.  Here  he 
Antony.  came  under  the  fascinations  of  Cleopatra,  and 


CIVIL  STRIFE.  177 


he  lost  all  regard  to  his  character  or  his  interests  in  hei 
company.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  divorce  his  wife  Oc- 
tavia,  the  sister  of  Octavius,  and,  having  married  the  volup- 
tuous Egyptian  queen,  he  bestowed  Roman  provinces  on  her. 

136.  This  conduct  was  treasonable,  and  furnished  Octa- 
vius with  a  decent  pretext  for  declaring  war.  Battle  of 
The  young  Caesar  had  been  gaining  great  pop-  Actmm. 
ularity  in  Italy ;  he  had  consolidated  his  power  and  had  his 
legions  in  fine  training.  The  fleets  and  armies  of  the  rivals 
assembled  at  the  opposite  sides  of  the  Gulf  of  Ambracia. 
After  considerable  delay,  Antony,  instigated  by  Cleopatra, 
who  was  present  with  her  Egyptian  fleet,  determined  to  de- 
cide the  contest  by  a  naval  battle.  The  contest  took  place 
off  the  promontory  of  Ac'tium  (on  the  west  coast  of  Greece), 
while  the  hostile  armies,  drawn  up  on  the  shore,  were  sim- 
ple spectators.  In  the  midst  of  the  conflict  Cleopatra 
tacked  about,  and  with  the  Egyptian  squadron  of  sixty  sail 
drew  out  of  the  fight.  Antony,  regardless  of  his  honor, 
followed  after  her,  and  the  pair  fled  to  Alexandria.  Both 
the  fleet  and  the  force  of  Antony  surrendered  to  Octavius, 
31  B.  c. 

137.  Some  months  afterwards  Octavius  advanced  to  be- 
siege Alexandria.  Antony  attempted  to  de-  End  of  An- 
fend  it ;  but  he  was  abandoned  by  his  troops.  *°"y- 
Cleopatra  retired  to  a  monument  she  had  erected,  and 
caused  a  report  to  be  spread  of  her  death.  Upon  this  news 
Antony  attempted  to  commit  suicide,  and  inflicted  on  himself 
a  mortal  wound :  hearing,  however,  in  the  midst  of  his  ago- 
nies, that  Cleopatra  still  lived,  he  caused  himself  to  be 
carried  to  her  monument,  and  expired  in  her  presence 
(30  B.  c). 

138.  The  end  of  Cleopatra  was  even  more  tragic.     The 
Egyptian  queen  seems  at  first  to  have  thought 

that  she  would  be  able  to  bewitch  the  young      ^°^^  '*" 
Caesar;  but  having  in  vain  essayed  her  arts  on  the  cold, 
8*  .:. 


178 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


calculating  Octavius,  she,  sooner  tiian  be  led  in  chains  to 
adorn  the  triumph  of  the  victor,  and  glut  the  eyes  of  the 
populace  of  Rome  with  the  sight  of  the  daughter  and  last 
of  the  Ptolemies  preceding  the  chariot  of  the  adopted  son 
of  him  who  had  done  homage  to  her  charms,  gave  herself 
voluntary  death  by  the  bite  of  an  asp,  or  the  scratch  of  a 
poisoned  needle.  Egypt  now  became  a  Roman  province 
(30  B.  c). 

139.  There  was  now  no  one  left  to  withstand  Octavius 
Triumph  of  Csesar,  who  thus  remained  sole  master  of  the 
Octavius.  great  dominion  which   the   mighty  Julius  had 

prepared  for  him.  The  senate,  in  fact,  was  ready  to  concede 
to  him  the  entire  authority.  He  indeed  went  through  the 
farce,  soon  after  his  return  to  Rome,  of  resigning  the  im- 
peratorship ;  but  he  was  prevailed  on  to  resume  it  for  ten 
years,  and  every  ten  years  after  to  re-resume  it.  Gradually 
all  the  great  offices  were  united  in  his  person,  and  he  be- 
came in  fact  Emperor  of  the  Roman  world.  We  may  count 
the  Roman  Empire  as  beginning  with  the  year  b.  c.  27, 
when  Octavius  was  saluted  with  the  new  and  peculiar  title 
of  Augustus. 


ANALYTIC    SYNOPSIS    FOR    REVIEW. 


I.     Rome  under  the  kings. 


Rome  is  believed  to  have  been 
founded  as  a  frontier  post  by  the 
Latins  of  Alba  Longa  ;  but  it  was 
from  the  first  almost  independent, 
then   wholly  so,  and  finally  ac- 
General     J  quired    an   ascendency  over    all 
Statement.  1  the  other  Latin  cities.     The  num- 
ber of  kings  is  said  to  have  been 
seven  ;  but  their  history  is  almost 
wholly  fabulous.     Regal  rule  was 
ended  by  the  banishment  of  Tar- 
jj^quin. 


LEADING   DATES. 


Founding  of  Rome    753 


End  of  kingly  rule    509 


ANALYTIC  SYNOFSIS. 


179 


First  Epoch,  Roman  Republic  (509-390). 


General 
Statement. 


r  The  first  epoch  of  119  years 
I  from  the  establishment  of  the  re- 
public was  a  period  of  struggle 
external  and  internal.  The  Ro- 
mans had  to  contend,  for  their 
mere  existence,  with  the  various 
neighboring  states,  and  during 
this  epoch  they  went  rather  back- 
wards than  forwards,  as  regards 
the  extent  of  their  territory. 
There  was  also  a  struggle  of 
classes,  owing  to  the  oppression 
of  the  Plebeians  by  the  Patri- 
cians ;  but  finally  the  Plebs  were 
allowed  to  elect  magistrates 
called  tribunes.  Soon  after,  the 
unwritten  Roman  law  was  em- 
bodied in  the  Twelve  Tables. 
Various  changes  were  made  in 
the  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment, decemvirs  taking  the  place 
of  consuls,  and  military  tribunes 
the  place  of  decemvirs.  In  this 
unsettled  state  of  affairs  Rome 
fell  a  prey  to  the  Gauls,  who 
burned  the  city. 


Establishment    of 
the  Republic...    500 


Secession    of   the 
Plebeians 493 


Laws        of        the 
Twelve  Tables..    451 


Military     tribunes 
appointed 444 


Rome  captured  by 
the   Gauls 390 


Licinian 
passed. 


Second  Epoch,  Roman  Republic  (390-266). 

The  Plebeians  were  again  griev- 
ously oppressed  by  the  Patricians, 
and  troubles  ensued,  but  a  set- 
tlement was  made  by  the  Licin- 
ian constitution,  which  remedied 
abuses.  With  the  cessation  of 
internal  troubles  the  Romans  be- 
gan a  career  of  conquest.  First, 
there  were  the  "  Samnite  "  wars 
and  the  "Latin"  wars  These 
General  wars  ended  in  the  complete  sub- 
Statement,  \  jugation  of  these  nations  and  the 


law3 


367 


Beginning  of  Sam- 
nite wars 343 

Beginning  of  Latin 
wars 340 

End  of  Samnite 
wars sgo 


i.6o 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


mastery  of  Rome  over  all  Cen- 
tral Italy.  The  Romans  now 
turned  their  attention  to  Southern 
or  Grecian  Italy,  where  they  had 
to  meet  Pyrrhus  in  several  bat- 
tles. At  first  defeated,  they  were 
finally  successful  ;  Pyrrhus  was 
compelled  to  abandon  his  project, 
and  the  southern  part  of  Italy 
was  conquered,  thus  giving  the 
Romans  mastery  over  the  whole 
Italian  peninsula. 


Battle  cf  Pandosia 
Battle  of  Asculutn 


27g 


Battle  of  Beneven- 
tum 2^l 


Romans      masters 
of  all  Italy 366 


General 
Statement. 


Third  Epoch,  Roman  Republic  (266-133). 

The  era  of  foreign  conquest 
lasted  133  years  (266-133).  First 
the  Romans  attacked  the  Cartha- 
ginians, their  great  rivals.  This 
mighty  contest  ran  through  three 
wars  known  as  the  three  Punic 
wars.  In  the  first,  lasting  23 
years,  the  Carthaginians  were 
unsuccessful.  The  Romans  after 
this  conquered  Cisalpine  Gaul. 
Hamilcar  now  became  general-in- 
chief  of  the  Carthaginians,  and  on 
his  death  his  greater  son  Hannibal 
came  into  command.  Hannibal 
took  the  aggressive  in  Spain,  and 
thus  began  the  second  Punic  War 
He  won  brilliant  victories,  and 
maintained  himself  fifteen  years 
in  Italy ;  but  finally  was  recalled 
to  Carthage  and  was  defeated  by 
the  Romans  at  Zama.  Soon 
after  the  second  Punic  War  the 
Romans  conquered  Macedon  and 
Greece,  and  made  them  Roman 
provinces.     The  third  Punic  War 

i  was  marked  by  the  siege  of  Car- 
thage, and  resulted  in  the  utter 

!  apnihilation  of  the   Carthaginian 

I  powei. 


Beginning  of  first 
Punic  War 264 

End  of  first  Punic 
War 341 

Conquest  of  Cisal- 
pine Gaul 333 


Beginning  ot  sec= 
ond  Punic  War. 


3iS 


Battle  of  Zama, 
and  end  of  second 
Punic  War soi 

Battle  of  Pydna...     168 
Greece  made  a  Ro- 
man province —     I146 
Burning     of    Car- 
thage,   and    end 
of  Punic  wars...    Lcf. 


ANALYTIC  SYNOPSIS. 


i8i 


General 
Statement. 


Fourth  Epoch,  Roman  Republic  (133-27). 

r  The  long  civil  strife  which  fol- 
lowed Rome's  foreign  wars  re- 
sulted from  the  desperate  poverty 
of  the  Plebeian  class.  This  class 
found  two  champions  in  the  Grac- 
chi, but  both  were  victims  to  the 
rage  of  the  aristocracy.  The  first 
Mithridatic  war  now  ensued,  but 
was  successfully  ended  by  Sulla. 
Then  came  the  bloody  days  of 
Marius  and  Sulla.  Subsequently 
Pompey  rose  to  power.  He  had 
been  the  leader  of  the  aristocracy, 
but  went  over  to  the  people's 
party,  he,  Julius  Caesar,  and  Cras- 
sus  forming  the  First  Triumvi- 
rate. Caesar  went  into  Gaul, 
where  he  prosecuted  his  cam- 
paigns for  eight  years ;  but  Pom- 
pey intrigued  against  him ;  so  he 
crossed  the  Rubicon  and  made 
himself  master  of  Italy.  The  de- 
cisive battle  between  Caesar  and 
Pompey  was  fought  at  Pharsalia, 
Caesar  being  successful  ;  the 
remnant  of  the  Pompeian  forces 
was  crushed  at  Thapsus.  Cae- 
sar was  now  master ;  but  a  con- 
spiracy was  formed  against  him, 
and  he  was  assassinated.  After 
the  death  of  Caesar  his  nephew 
Octavius  formed  with  Antony  and 
Lepidus  the  Second  Triumvirate. 
Octavius  led  his  forces  against 
Brutus  and  Cassius,  defeating 
them  at  Philippi.  Antony  and 
Octavius  now  quarreled,  but  the 
dispute  was  settled  in  favor  of  the 
latter  by  the  battle  of  Actium, 
and  soon  after  Octavius  assumed 
the  title  of  Augustus  Caesar. 


Agrarian  \acvt 
brought  for- 
ward by  T. 
Gracchus 133 

Death  of  C.  Grac- 
chus      lax 

Outbreak  of  first 
Mithridatic  war      86 

Massacres  by  Ma- 
rius       86 

Sulla's  proscrip- 
tions       83 


First  Triumvirate      60 

Caesar's          Gallic 
campaign s8-50 

Crossing     of     the 
Rubicon 49 

Battle     of    Phar- 
salia 48 

Battle     of    Thap- 
sus        4G 

Assassination      of 
Caesar 44 

Second     Triumvi- 
rate        43 


Battle  of  Philippi.      43 


Battle  of  Actium..      31 

Octavius  (Augus- 
tus) becomes 
Emperor vj 


t3a  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


CHAPTER    IV. 
ROME    AS    AN    EMPIRE. 

I.    AGE   OF  AUGUSTUS. 

140.  When  Augustus  Caesar  at  the  age  of  thirty-sii 
Nature  of  the  became  master  of  the  Roman  world,  there  was 
imperial  rule,  j^q  open  establishment  of  a  monarchical  gov- 
ernment. On  the  contrary,  most  of  the  old  republican 
forms  were  kept  up ;  but  they  were  mere  forms.  The 
senate  still  sat,  but  it  did  little  more  than  vote  what  Augus- 
tus wished ;  the  people  still  met  in  their  assemblies  and 
elected  consuls  and  magistrates,  but  only  such  persons  were 
elected  as  had  been  proposed  or  recommended  by  the 
Emperor.  Augustus,  however,  assumed  nothing  of  the  out- 
ward pomp  of  a  monarch :  he  was  satisfied  with  the  sub- 
stance of  supreme  rule.  The  almost  uninterrupted  festivi- 
ties, games,  and  distributions  of  corn  and  the  like  kept  the 
people  out  of  politics ;  and,  what  through  degeneracy,  and 
what  through  despair,  they  were  willing  to  be  out  of 
politics ! 

141.  The  boundaries  of  the  Roman  Empire  as  estab- 
Extent  of  the  lishcd  by  Augustus  may  be  stated  in  a  general 
Empire.  .^^y  3,3  foUows :  On  the  north,  the  British 
Channel,  the  North  Sea  (Mare  German'icum),  the  Rhine, 
the  Danube  (Ister),  and  the  Black  Sea  (Pontus  Euxi'nus) ; 
on  the  east,  the  Euphrates  and  the  Desert  of  Syria ;  on  the 
south,  the  Sahara  of  Africa ;  and  on  the  west,  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  It  extended  from  east  to  west  a  distance  of  fifty 
degrees,  or  about  2700  miles,  and  had  an  average  breadth 
of  about  fifteen  degrees,  or  above  1000  miles. 

142.  The  Roman  Empire  took  in  the  modern  countries 
of   Portugal,    Spaip,    France,    Belgium,    Western    Holland, 


AGE  OF  AUGUSTUS.  1 83 


Rhenish  Prussia,  parts  of  Baden  and  Wurtemberg,  most  of 
Bavaria,  Switzerland,  Italy,  the  Tyrol,  Austria  countries  in- 
Proper,  Western  Hungary,  Croa'tia,  Slavo'nia,   '='"'1=^. 
Servia,    Turkey   in    Europe,    Greece,    Asia   Minor,    Syria, 
Palestine,  Idumae'a,  Egypt,  the  Cyrena'ica,  Tripoli,  Tunis, 
A.lgeria,  and  most  of  Morocco. 

143.  The  entire  Empire,  exclusive  of  Italy,  vi^as  divided 
into    27    "  Provinces,"    which    may    be    con- 
veniently grouped  under  three  heads:   i.  The 

Western,  or  European  ;  2.  The  Eastern,  or  Asiatic;  3.  The 
Southern,  or  African.  The  Western  provinces  numbered 
14;  the  Eastern,  8;  the  Southern,  5.* 

144.  Within  the  circuit  of  the  Roman  dominion  there 
were  what  we  may  call  three  civilizations :  The  three  civ- 
the  Latin,  the  Greek,  and  the  Oriental.  Latin  iii^ations. 
civilization  took  in  the  countries  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
to  the  Adriatic ;  Greek  civilization,  from  the  Adriatic  to 
Mount  Taurus  ;  Oriental  civilization,  the  lands  beyond  to 
the  Euphrates. 

145.  The  area  of  Latin  civilization  embraced  the  penin- 
sula of  Italy  (its  native  seat)  and  all  Western 

Europe,  where  the  Romans  appeared  not  only 
as  a  conquering  but  also  as  a  civilizing  people.  Thus  in 
the  three  provinces  of  Spain  (Hispania),  in  the  four  prov- 
inces  of  Transalpine  Gaul  (corresponding  nearly  with  the 
modern  France),  as  well  as  in  the  North  African  provinces, 
especially  Carthage  (which  was  restored  by  Caesar  as  a 
Roman  colony),  the  Latin  language  took  firm  root,  and  the 
manners  and  customs,  and  indeed  the  whole  civilization,  of 
those  lands  became  Roman. 

146.  Creek  civilization  was  spread  over  Greece  and  all 
those  parts  of  Europe  and  Asia  that  had  been 
Hellenized   by  Grecian    colonists    or    by   the 

*  Name  these  from  the  map  opposite  p.  182. 


1 84  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

Macedonian  conquerors.  In  manners,  customs,  language, 
and  culture  these  lands  remained  Greek,  while  politically 
they  were  Roman. 

147.  Oriental  civilization   was   diffused   over   the  East- 

ern  provinces,   especially    Egypt    and    Syria. 

These  countries  had,  under  the  rule  of  Alexan- 
der's successors,  become  to  some  degree  Hellenized ;  but 
this  influence  was  on  the  whole  superficial.  The  peoples 
of  those  Oriental  lands  had  never  given  up  their  own 
languages  or  religious  ideas  or  ways  of  thinking.  Now 
these  peoples,  it  should  be  said,  did  not  become  LatinizeA 
either,  —  they  did  not  adopt  the  language  and  civilization 
of  Rome. 

148.  Within   the   limits   of   the    Roman    Empire   under 

Augustus   there   may   have   been   in    all   one 

Government.  ^  ■'  ,     .  -kt       •> 

HUNDRED  MILLIONS  of  human  bemgs.  NoL  less 
than  one  half  were  in  a  condition  of  slavery ;  and  of  the 
rest,  only  that  small  proportion  who,  under  the  envied 
name  of  Roman  citizen  {civis  Rofnaiius),  inhabited  Italy, 
enjoyed  political  independence,  or  had  the  smallest  share 
in  the  government.  The  various  lands  and  peoples  were 
under  Roman  legates  (half  of  these  appointed  by  Augustus 
and  the  other  half  by  the  Senate),  who  held  supreme  mili- 
tary command.  To  the  provinces  were  left,  however,  their 
independent  municipal  constitutions  and  officers.  In  Rome 
and  Italy  the  public  peace  was  preserved  by  the  pretorian 
cohorts,  —  bodies  of  soldiers  of  tried  valor,  to  whom  Augus- 
tus gave  double  pay.  Throughout  the  provinces  the  people 
were  kept  in  check  by  the  regular  troops,  —  numbering 
350,000  men. 

149.  Of  this  vast  Empire  Rome  was  the  metropolis,  now 

a  city  of  innumerable  streets  and  buildings, 
The  capital.  ^^^  containing,  it  is  calculated,  a  population 
of  about  two  millions  and  a  half.  It  was  in  this  period  that 
Rome  became  truly  a  splendid  city.  Augustus  was  able  to 
boast  that  "he  found  the  city  brick  and  left  it  marble." 


AGE   OF  AUGUSTUS. 


185 


150.  In  the  days  of  its  greatest  prosperity  the  circumfer- 
ence of  Rome  enclosed  by  walls  was  about  , 

,  ,  ■,  Its  extent. 

twenty  miles ;  but  there  were  also  very  exten- 
sive suburbs.     The  walls  were  pierced  by  thirty  gates.     The 
most  remarkable  objects  were  the  Coliseum,  the   Capitol 
with  its  temples,  the  Senate-House,  and  the  Forum. 

151.  The  great  circus,  or  Circus  Maximus,  a  place  reserved 
for  public  games,  races  and  shows,  was  one  Circus  and 

of  the  most  magnificent  structures  of  Rome.  It  Coliseum, 
was  capable  of  containing  200,000  spectators.  The  Flavian 
Amphitheater,  whose  massive  ruins  are  known  as  the  Coli- 
seum, could  seat  from  80,000  to  100,000  persons.  In  the 
arena  were  exhibited  the  fights  of  gladiators,  in  which  the 
Romans  took  such  savage  delight,  together  with  races,  com- 
bats of  wild  beasts,  etc.     Theaters,  public  baths,  etc.,  were 


The  Coliseum. 


erected  by  the  emperors,  who  seemed  anxious  to  compen- 
sate the  people  for  their  loss  of  liberty  by  the  magnificence 
of  their  public  shows  and  entertainments. 


i86 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


Forum. 


152.  In  the  valley  between  the  Palatine  and  Cap'itoline 
hills  was  the  Forum,  or  place  of  public  assem- 
bly, and  the  great  market.     It  was  surrounded 

with  temples,  halls  for  the  administration  of  justice  (called 
basil'icce),  and  public  offices ;  it  was  also  adorned  with 
statues  erected  in  honor  of  eminent  warriors  and  statesmen, 
and  with  various  trophies  from  conquered  nations. 

153.  In  the  Forum  was  the  celebrated  Temple  of  Janus, 
Temple  of  built  entirely  of  bronze  and  dating  back  to  the 
Janus.  early  kingly  period.  From  some  early  circum- 
stance the  custom  was  established  of  closing  the  gates  of 
this  temple  during  peace  ;  but  so  incessant  were  the  wars 
of  the  Romans,  that  during  eight  centuries  the  gates  of  the 
Temple  of  Janus  were  closed  only  three  times. 


ACE   OF  AUGUSTUS.  18/ 

154.  The  elections  of  magistrates,  reviews  of  troops,  and 
the  census  or  registration  of  citizens,  were  campus  Mar- 
held  in  the  Campus  Martius,  which  was  also   ^'"^• 

the  favorite  exercise-ground  of  the  young  nobles.  It  was 
surrounded  by  several  splendid  edifices ;  ornamental  trees 
and  shrubs  were  planted  in  different  parts,  and  porticoes 
erected  under  which  the  citizens  might  continue  their 
exercise  in  rainy  weather.  Hard  by  was  the  celebrated 
Pantheon,  or  Temple  of  All  the  Gods  (erected  in  the  reign  of 
Augustus),  the  most  perfect  and  splendid  monument  of 
ancient  Rome  that  has  survived  the  ravages  of  time. 

155.  The  aqueducts  were  among  the  most  remarkable 
Roman  structures.     Pure  streams  were  sought 

,.  ,  1     •         1  Aqueducts. 

at  a  great  distance,  and  conveyed  m  these 
artificial  channels,  supported  by  arches,  many  of  which  were 
more  than  a  hundred  feet  high.  Under  the  emperors,  not 
fewer  than  twenty  of  these  stupendous  and  useful  structures 
were  raised  \  and  they  brought  such  an  abundant  supply  of 
water  to  the  metropolis,  that  rivers  seemed  to  flow  through 
the  streets  and  sewers. 

156.  Rome  was  inferior  to  Athens  in  architectural 
beauty,  but  it  far  surpassed  the  Grecian  city  in  General  de- 
works  of  public  utility.  To  enumerate  all  the  scnption. 
notable  edifices  would  be  impossible  here  ;  but  we  may  sum 
up  the  matter  by  saying  that  the  "  Eternal  City "  in  the 
zenith  of  its  glory  contained  four  hundred  and  twenty 
temples,  five  regular  theaters,  two  amphitheaters,  and  seven 
circuses  of  vast  extent.  There  were  sixteen  public  baths 
built  of  marble,  and  furnished  with  every  convenience  that 
could  be  desired.  From  the  aqueducts  a  prodigious  num- 
ber of  fountains  was  supplied,  many  of  which  were  remark- 
able for  their  architectural  beauty.  The  palaces,  public 
halls,  columns,  porticoes,  and  obelisks  were  without  num- 
ber, and  to  these  must  be  added  the  triumphal  arches 
erected  by  the  later  emperors. 


1 88  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

157'  As  the  peace  of  the  Roman  world  was  maintained 
by  the  strong  hand  of  power,  it  was  at  this  time 
that  many  of  those  arts  that  grow  best  during 
seasons  of  national  order  and  prosperity  made  their  greatest 
progress.  Thus  many  of  the  best-known  Latin  writers  lived 
at  this  time.  Augustus  himself  was  a  great  patron  of  literary 
men  and  artists,  and  so  was  his  minister,  Caius  Cilnius 
Masce'nas.  They  honored  and  rewarded  eminent  writers  ; 
and  though  we  must  not  forget  that  many  of  the  distin- 
guished men  whose  writings  add  luster  to  the  "  Augustan 
age  "  had  grown  up  under  the  republic,  still  Augustus  de- 
serves credit  for  fostering  letters.  Nothing  will  make  up 
for  the  loss  of  political  freedom  ;  but  it  is  something  thatii 
in  Rome,  when  liberty  was  lost,  literature  at  least  flourished.  I\ 

158.  Among  the  distinguished  writers  of  this  age  or  the 
times  immediately  preceding  it  are  ;  — 

Virgil,  the  author  of  the  epic  poem  the  ^ne'id,  a  graceful,  if  not  an 

original,  writer. 
Horace,  author  of  many  poems,  odes,  satires,  and  epistles ;   a  witty, 

good-humored,  and  most  vivacious  song-writer. 
Sallust,  the  historian  of  the  Jugurthine  War  and  the  Conspiracy  of 

Catiline ;  a  very  spirited  writer. 
Lucre'tius,  a  writer  of  didactic  poetry,  containing  passages  of  noble 

eloquence  and  philosophy,  along  with  much  that  is  characteristic  of 

the  low  tone  of  thought  prevalent  in  the  pagan  world. 
Catul'lus,  author  of  lyrics  that  are  among  the  sweetest  and  most  truly 

poetic  things  in  the  Latin  language. 

159.  These  are    the   most  distinguished  names  in   the 

Ausoistan  age,  and  they  are  among  the  most 

Later  writers.      „   °  •   ,     j    •  ,1    t.  t.        Z  a     j 

distinguished  in  all  Roman  literature.  And 
as  we  shall  have  no  further  occasion  to  recur  to  Roman 
literature,  we  may  simply  note  here  among  subsequent 
writers,  —  Livy,  the  great  historian  of  Rome  ;  Ovid,  the 
poet ;  Martial,  the  writer  of  epigrams  ;  Pliny,  the  writer  oo 
natural  history  (killed  79  a.  d.  by  the  great  eruption  from 
Vesuvius,  which  buried  the  cities  of  Pompeii  and  Hercula'* 


AGE   OF  AUGUSTUS.  1 89 

neum) ;  Ju'venal,  the  bitter  satirist ;  and  Tacitus,  the  philo- 
sophic historian  of  the  declining  glories  of  Rome. 

160.  The  reign  of  Augustus  is  rendered  memorable  by 
the  birth   of   Christ  at   the   little  village    of  Birth  of 
Bethlehem,  in  Judsa,  —  the  most  momentous   ^i^"^^- 
event  in  the  spiritual  history  of  the  world.     Reckoned  in 
our  common  era,  this  event  took  place  in  the  year  4  b.  c* 

161.  Augustus  died  in  14  A.  D.  ;  so  that,  counting  from 
his  formal  accession  to  title,  27  b.  c,  he  ruled   Reign  of 
over  the  Roman  dominion  for  forty-one  years.   Augustus. 

162.  Augustus  was  succeeded  by  his  step-son,  Tibe'rius 
Clau'dius  Nero.     It  must  be  remembered  that 

,         _  111  His  successor. 

the    Roman    government    was    not   legally   a 
monarchy ;  hence  Augustus's  heir  was  not  necessarily  the 
heir  of  his  power.     But  the  Emperor  had  adopted  Tiberius 
as  his  own  son,  and  the  subservient  senate  voted  him  all 
the  honors  Augustus  had  held. 

163.  In  the  note  below  t  the  scholar  will  find  a  reference 

*  Our  method  of  counting  time  was  not  introduced  till  the  year  532 
A.  D.  The  calculation  was  erroneous,  and  it  was  found  ten  centuries 
afterward  to  be  deficient  four  years  of  the  true  period ;  but  as  the  alter- 
ation of  a  system  that  had  then  been  adopted  by  nearly  all  Europe  would 
have  made  great  confusion  in  civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs,  the  error 
was,  by  general  consent,  allowed  to  remain,  and  we  continue  to  reckon 
from  this  era  (A.  D.,  anno  dt^ni7ti,  that  is,  "  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  "), 
which,  however,  lacks  four  years  and  six  days  of  the  real  Christian  epoch. 

t  The  following  table  gives  a  list  of  the  Roman  Emperors,  with  the 
dates  of  their  reigns  : 

A.  D.    A.  D.  A.  D.    A.  D. 


Augustus 14 

Tiberius 14-  37 

Caligula 37-  41 

Claudius 41  -  54 

Nero 54-  68 

Galba 68-  69 

Otho 69  -  69 

Vitellius 69  -  69 

Vespasian 69-  79 

Titus 79-  81 


Domitian 81  -  96 

Nerva 96-  98 

Trajan 98-117 

Hadrian 117 -138 

Antoninus  Pius 138-161 

M.  AureHus 161 -180 

L.  Verus 161  -  169 

Commodus 180-  192 

Pertinax 193  -  193 

Julianus 193  -  193 


190 


HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


table  of  the  Roman  emperors,  from  Augustus  to  Augustu- 
Reference  ^^s,  476  A.  D.     It  is  not  the  plan  of  this  book 

'*'^^^-  to  make  Roman  history  turn  on  the  personal 

fortunes  of  the  emperors  or  the  intrigues  of  their  courts,  — 
insignificant  details  with  which  history  has  been  entirely  too 
much  taken  up.  Hence  it  will  be  enough  to  refer  to  the 
table  from  time  to  time  as  we  take  up  under  separate  heads 
the  great  events  of  the  Roman  world. 


Soptimius  Severus 193- 

(  Caracal  la 211- 

(  Geta 211- 

Macrinus 217- 

Elagabalus 218- 

Alexander  Severus 222  - 

Maximinus 235  - 

j  Gordianus  I.    |  o 

(  Gordianus  II.  )    ^ 

(  Pupienus  Maximus 
J  Balbinus 

Gordianus  III 238 

Philippus 244 

Decius 249 

Trebonianus  Gallus 251 

iEmilianus 253 

j  Valerian 253 

I  Gallienus 253 

Claudius  II 268 

Aurelian 270 

Tacitus 275 

Florianus 276 

Probus 276 

Carus 282 

(  Carinus 

I  Numerianus 

!  Diocletian 284 

Maximian 286 

Constantius  1 305 


211 
217 
212 
218 
222 

235 
238 

238-238 

238-238 

244 
249 
251 
254 

253 
260 
268 
270 

275 
276 
276 
282 
283 

284 


.283- 


305 
305 
306 


(  Galerius 305-311 

<  Constantinel.theGreat  306-337 

'  Licinius 307-323 

f  Constantine  II 337-34° 

\  Constantius  II 337-3^1 

(  Constans  1 337-35° 

Julian.... 361-363 

Jovian 363-364 

Valentinian  1 364-375 

Gratian 375-3^3 

Valentinian  II 383-392 

Theodosius  1 392  -  395 

(Emperor  of  the  West  as 

well  as  of  the  East.) 

Honorius 395-423 

Theodosius  II 423-425 

Valentinian  III 425-455 

Petronius  Maximus. .. .  455-455 

Avitus 455-456 

Majorian 457-461 

Libius  Severus 461  -465 

Anthemius 467  -472 

Olybrius 472  -  472 

Glycerins 473-474 

Julius  Nepos 474-475 

Romulus  Augustulus. . .  475-476 

(Last  Emperor  of  the 
West.) 


POLITICAL   HISTORY.  IQI 


2.     POLITICAL   HISTORY. 

164.  During  nearly  three  centuries  after  the  death  of 
Augustus,  the  empire  remained,  as  far  as  Kind  of  gov- 
political  arrangements  were  concerned,  pretty  ^rnment. 
nearly  as  he  had  left  it.  Though  the  senate  still  continued 
to  sit,  and  consuls  to  be  elected,  yet  the  Roman  world  soon 
became  thoroughly  accustomed  to  the  rule  of  one  man.  At 
first,  the  empire  was  inherited  as  a  birthright  by  those  who 
could  claim  descent  from  Augustus,  or  who  had  been 
adopted  into  the  family.  Nero  was  in  reality  the  last 
emperor  of  the  family  of  Augustus,  though  all  who  suc- 
ceeded to  the  empire  still  went  on  calling  themselves 
Ccesar  and  Augustus  to  the  last. 

165.  It  soon  came  about  that  the  real  power  behind  the 
throne  was  the  soldiery.  The  troops,  and  Pretorian 
especially  the  "  Pretorian  Guard,"  took  it  °"^'''*- 
upon  themselves  to  dispose  of  the  sovereignty  as  it  pleased 
them,  and  it  was  rare  that  the  senate  ventured  to  refuse  to 
register  the  decree  of  the  soldiers.  To  raise  favorite  gen- 
erals to  the  purple,  and  then  to  murder  them  for  the  sake 
of  the  largesses  which  it  was  customary  to  receive  in  case 
of  a  new  accession,  was  the  favorite  pastime  of  the  troops  ; 
and  it  sometimes  happened  that  there  were  several  em- 
perors at  the  same  time,  different  armies  throughout  the 
empire  having  each  appointed  one. 

166.  Augustus  bequeathed  as  a  valuable  legacy  to  his 
successors  the  advice  of  confining  the  empire  Growth  of  the 
within  those  limits  which  nature  seemed  to  ^n^P're. 
have  placed  as  its  permanent  boundaries  :  on  the  west,  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  ;  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  on  the  north  ; 
the  Euphrates  on  the  east ;  and  on  the  south  the  deserts  of 
Africa  and  Arabia.  The  only  accession  which  the  Roman 
Empire  received  during  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era 
was  the  province  of  Britain.  "  After  a  war  of  about  forty 
years,  undertaken  by  the  most  stupid  [Claudius],  maintained 


192  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

by  the  most  dissolute  [Nero],  and  terminated  by  the  most 
timid  [Domi'tian]  of  all  the  emperors,  the  greater  part  of 
the  island  of  Britain  submitted  to  the  Roman  yoke."*  The 
next  addition  to  the  Roman  territory  was  made  by  Trajan 
in  the  early  part  of  the  2d  centur)\  I'his  consisted  of  the 
province  of  Dacia,  which  was  bounded  by  the  Dnei'ster,  the 
Theiss,  the  Lower  Danube,  and  the  Euxine  Sea. 

167.  It  has  already  been  seen  that  the  Roman  Empire 
Roman  citizen-  Consisted  of  Italy  and  the  Provinces,  and  that 
^^'P-  in  point  of  government  the  two  divisions  were 
on  a  very  different  footing.  The  inhabitants  of  Italy  were 
Roman  citizens,  whereas  the  provincials  were  under  the 
military  rule  of  Roman  officials,  —  legates  and  proconsuls. 
But  the  same  salutary  maxims  of  government  which  had  se- 
cured the  peace  and  obedience  of  Italy  were  little  by  little 
extended  to  the  countries  outside  of  Italy.  A  nation  of 
Romans  was  gradually  formed  in  the  provinces  by  the 
double  expedient  of  introducing  colonies  and  of  admitting 
the  most  faithful  and  deserving  of  the  provincials  to  the 
freedom  of  Rome.  Finally,  in  the  time  of  Caracal'la,  in 
the  early  part  of  the  3d  century  a.  d.  (211 -217),  the  old 
distinction  between  Romans  and  provincials  was  wholly 
abolished.  Roman  citizenship  was  given  to  all  the  free  in- 
habitants of  the  empire. 

168.  By  this  time  the  Latinizing  of  the  Western  provinces 
Latinizing  of  ^"^"^  Completely  effected  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  lan- 
the  provinces,  guagc,  manners,  and  ideas,  the  inhabitants  of 
Gaul,  Spain,  Northern  Africa,  and  lUyria  had  become  thor- 
ough Romans.  A  very  interesting  proof  of  this  is  furnished 
by  the  fact  that  many  of  the  best  and  bravest  of  the  later 
emperors  were  provincials,  or  barbarians,  as  they  would  be- 
fore this  have  been  called. 

169.  When  there  ceased  to  be  any  distinction  between 
Italy  and  the  rest  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  importance 

*  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 


POLITICAL   HISTORY.  1 93 

of  Rome  as  the  center  of  the  imperial  dominion  was  very 
much  diminished.  This  change  is  marked  by  Rome  loses  its 
the  fact  that,  in  later  times,  Rome  was  quite  importance, 
forsaken  by  the  emperors,  who  found  it  better  to  live  near 
the  frontiers,  whence  they  could  keep  watch  against  outside 
foes  ;  and  it  is  still  more  emphatically  marked  by  a  new  order 
of  things,  which  was  begun  by  the  Emperor  Diocle'tian. 

170.  Diocletian  (283-305  a.  d.)  was  one  of  a  series  of 
able  Illyrians  that  rose  to  the  purple.  Finding  Division  of 
the  unwieldy  mass  too  great  for  the  adminis-  po^^""- 
tration  of  a  single  individual,  he  took  a  general  named  Max- 
im'ian  as  his  colleague :  he  divided  the  imperial  power  be- 
tween himself  and  Maximian,  Diocletian  retaining  the  East, 
while  Maximian  ruled  over  the  Western,  or  Latin-speaking, 
peoples.  Not  content  with  this  division,  Diocletian  took 
an  assistant  and  made  his  colleague  do  the  same.  These 
sub-rulers  were  called  Cczsars.,  and  it  was  intended  that  they 
should  afterwards  succeed  to  the  imperial  power.  This  ar- 
rangement did  not  last  long,  and,  after  various  struggles,  the 
whole  empire  was  reunited  under  Constantine  the  Great,  in 
K.  D.  323. 

171.  Constantine  made  a  change  which  had  a  great  effect 
upon  the  later  history  of  the   Roman  world.    ^ 

^  .      ,       r      1  •  Constantine. 

He  removed  the  capital  of  the  empire  to  the 
old  Greek  city  of  Byzan'tium,  on  the  Bos'phorus,  which  he 
greatly  enlarged  and  called  New  Rome,  but  which  has  been 
better  known  ever  since  as  Constantino'ple  (Greek  polls,  a 
city,  —  the  city  of  Constantine).  Even  before  this,  Rome 
had,  as  we  have  seen,  ceased  to  be  the  usual  dwelling-place 
of  the  emperors,  who  commonly  lived  at  Milan,  Nicome'dia 
(Bithyn'ia),  and  elsewhere ;  but  the  transfer  of  the  capital 
to  a  Greek  cit\'  is  a  proof  of  how  completely  the  Empin 
had  come  to  overshadow  Rome  and  Italy. 

172.  Theodosius  I.  was  the  last  Emperor   ^^    ^    . 
who  reigned  over  the  whole  Roman  Empire.  On 

9  M 


194  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


his  death,  in  a.  d.  395,  the  vast  dominion  was  divided  be- 
tween his  two  sons,  —  Hono'rius  ruling  in  the  West,  and 
Arca'dius  in  the  East. 

173.  From  that  date  the  history  of  Rome  divides  itself 
Division  of  the  ifto  two  distinct  histories,  —  that  of  the  West- 
empire,  gj-j^  Qj.  Latin  Empire,  and  that  of  the  Eastern, 
Greek,  or  Byzan'tine  Empire.  As  to  the  Eastern  Empire, 
we  shall  have  to  follov/  its  history  down  through  the  Middle 
Ages,  till  its  destruction  by  the  Turks  in  the  15th  century. 
But  for  the  present,  it  is  with  the  Western  Empire  alone 
that  we  are  concerned,  for  with  the  fall  of  the  Western 
Roman  Empire  ancient  history  ends.  This  downfall  took 
place  in  the  year  476  a.  d.  ;  but  we  shall  defer  to  a  subse- 
quent section  the  narrative  of  the  last  days  of  Rome. 


3.     SPREAD   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

174.  While  the  political  events  about  which  we  have  just 
The  new  learned,  and  which  filled  up  the  five  centuries 
power.  q£  imperial  Rome,  were  taking  place,  a  change 
far  more  momentous  than  any  political  revolution  was 
coming  over  the  minds  of  men.  This  was  the  mighty  moral 
transformation  effected  by  Christianity. 

175.  In  the  time  of  Augustus  the  different  peoples  and 
State  of  the      nations  under  the  Roman  sway  had   a  great 

world  at  the  .  ....  ,  ,,         •  ,      ,  • 

birth  of  Christ.  Variety  of  religions,  but  all,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Jews,  were  pagans  and  polytheists.  While  Augustus 
was  ruling  over  a  hundred  millions  of  fellow-polytheists,  there 
took  place  in  an  obscure  corner  of  the  Roman  dominion 
an  event  the  importance  of  which  the  wisest  Roman  could 
not  have  foreseen.  This  was  the  birth  of  Christ,  the  founder 
of  a  religion  which  was  to  overspread  the  polytheistic  na- 
tions, dissolve  the  ancient  creeds  and  philosophies,  and 
renovate  the  faith,  the  thoughts,  the  whole  life  of  the  civil- 
ized  vvorld.     Now  the  diffusion  of  Christianity  was  power* 


SPREAD   OF  CHRISTIANITY.  1 95 

fully  aided  by  the/d-r/of  the  Roman  Empire,  —  by  the  unity 
of  government  under  the  empire ;  hence  it  has  been  truly 
said  that  "  the  Roman  empire  may  be  defined  as  a  compul- 
sory assemblage  of  polytheistic  nations  in  order  that  Chris» 
tianity  might  operate  over  a  large  surface  at  once  of  that 
polytheism  which  it  was  to  supersede  and  destroy." 

176.  Jesus  Christ  was  crucified  in  the  nineteenth  year 
of  the  reign  of  Tiberius.  At  Antioch,  in  Syria,  pirst  spread  of 
where  Barnabas  and  Saul  taught  the  faith,  the  Christianity, 
disciples  were  first  called  "  Christians."  And  then  began 
those  great  missionary  journeys  of  the  apostles  by  which 
the  gospel  was  carried  through  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  and 
Italy,  and  the  capital  of  the  empire  early  became  the  capital 
of  Christendom.  The  Christian  religion  silently  but  surely 
spread  itself ;  first  among  the  Jews,  then  among  the  Greeks, 
or  eastern,  and  the  Latin,  or  western,  Gentiles. 

177.  The  existence  of  Christianity  in  the  Roman  Empire 
is  first  signalized  by  the  persecutions  to  which   Nero's  perse- 
the  Christians  were  subjected.     In  the  reign  cutions. 

of  the  brutal  Nero  the  first  persecution  took  place,  but  it 
was  confined  to  the  city  of  Rome.  A  great  fire,  which  con- 
sumed a  large  part  of  the  city,  took  place.  Men  said  that 
the  emperor's  own  hand  had  kindled  the  flame,  out  of  mere 
madness,  and  that,  while  the  burning  continued,  he  sat 
calmly  looking  on,  singing  verses  to  the  music  of  his  lyre. 
To  divert  suspicion  from  himself,  Nero  resolved  to  direct  it 
upon  the  Christians.  We  shall  tell  the  sequel  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Tacitus,  the  great  Roman  historian,  who  was  born 
during  the  reign  of  Nero.  The  passage  which  we  quote  is 
of  great  interest,  because  it  contains  the  earliest  mention, 
by  any  profane  writer,  of  the  name  of  Christ. 

"With  this  view  [that  is,  to  divert  suspicion],  Nero  inflicted  the  most 
exquisite  tortures  on  those  men  who,  under  the  vulgar  appellation  of 
Christians,  were  already  branded  with  deserved  infamy.  They  derived 
their  name  and  origin  from  one  Christ,  who  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius  had 


196'  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

suffered  death  by  the  sentence  of  the  procurator  Pontius  Pilate.  For  a 
while  this  dire  superstition  was  checked,  but  it  again  burst  forth ;  and 
not  only  spread  itself  over  Judaea,  the  first  seat  of  this  mischievous  sect, 
but  was  even  introduced  into  Rome,  the  common  asylum  which  receives 
and  protects  whatever  is  impure,  whatever  is  atrocious.  The  confessions 
of  those  who  were  seized  discovered  a  great  multitude  of  their  accom- 
plices, and  they  were  all  convicted,  not  so  much  for  the  crime  of  setting 
fire  to  the  city,  as  for  their  hatred  of  human  kind.  Some  were  nailed  or, 
crosses,  others  sewn  up  in  the  skins  of  wild  beasts  and  exposed  to  the 
fury  of  dogs ;  others,  again,  smeared  over  with  combustible  materials, 
were  used  as  torches  to  illuminate  the  darkness  of  the  night.  The  gar- 
dens of  ^^ero  were  destined  for  the  melancholy  spectacle,  which  was 
accompanied  with  a  horse-race,  and  honored  with  the  presence  of  the 
emperor,  who  mingled  with  the  populace  in  the  dress  and  attitude  of  a 
charioteer.  The  guilt  of  the  Christians  deserved  indeed  the  most  ex- 
emplary punishment,  but  the  public  abhorrence  was  changed  into  com- 
miseration, from  the  opinion  that  those  unhappy  wretches  were  sacrificed, 
not  so  much  to  the  public  welfare,  as  to  the  cruelty  of  a  jealous  tyrant.  "* 

178.    A  question  here   arises :  Why  was  it  that  many  of 
Real  causes  of  the    emnerors    who    saw   without    concern    a 

the  persecu-  ....  ,     .      .         . 

tions.  thousand  forms  of  rehgion  subsistmg  m  peace 

beneath  their  sway,  singled  out  the  sect  of  the  Christians  to 
make  them  the  sole  objects  of  persecution  ?  The  answer  to 
this  question  is  found  in  several  facts.  And  first,  in  the 
proselyting  ardor  of  the  Christians.  The  empire  was  tol- 
erant of  all  faiths  ;  but  it  was  not  tolerant  of  a  faith  which 
taught  that  the  gods  of  Rome  and  of  all  other  nations  were 
alike  false,  and  which  strove  to  win  over  all  mankind  to 
that  belief.  Then  the  Roman  mind,  while  it  looked  with 
respect  on  all  national  faiths,  viewed  with  suspicion  and  dis- 
gust a  creed  that  was  not  sanctioned  by  the  belief  of  any 
nation,  but  was  held  only  by  a  sect.  Moreover,  the  early 
Christians  were  in  the  habit  of  holding  their  meetings 
secretly  and  at  night ;  this  was  regarded  as  illegal  in  prin- 
ciple, and  as  possibly  dangerous  in  results.  Summing  up 
the  several  facts,  we  may  say  that  the  persecutions  of  the 

*  Tacitus,  Annals,  XV.  44. 


SPREAD  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  1 97 

Christians  were  owing  to  political  reasons  rather  than  to 
religious  intolerance. 

179.  A  striking  proof  of  this  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the 
Christians  suffered  most  under  good  and  re- 
forming princes  like  Trajan  and  Marcus  Au- 

relius,  men  of  pure  and  humane  character,  while  under  the 
infamous  emperors  they  were  generally  let  alone. 

180.  In  spite  of  persecution  the  Church  constantly  ad- 
vanced and  made  converts,  and  in  the  first  Growth  of 
half  of  the  3d  century,  which  was  a  period  of  Christianity, 
calm,  the  Christians  were  permitted  to  erect  and  consecrate 
convenient  edifices  for  the  purpose  of  religious  worship  ;  to 
purchase  lands,  even  at  Rome  itself,  for  the  use  of  the  com- 
munity ;  and  to  conduct  the  elections  of  their  ecclesiastical 
ministers  in  a  public  manner.  Notwithstanding  severe  per- 
secutions under  Decius  and  Vale'rian,  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity continued  to  spread  among  all  classes  of  people 
everywhere.  Indeed,  it  almost  seemed  that  these  persecu- 
tions were  needed  for  the  sifting  of  the  Church ;  the  gold 
was  tested  and  refined  in  a  fiery  furnace,  and,  like  a  sturdy 
young  oak,  Christianity,  amid  all  these  great  and  frequent 
storms,  only  struck  its  roots  the  deeper  into  the  soil. 

181.  At  last  it  became  plain  that  a  deadly  struggle  be- 
tween  the  old  faith  and  the  new  was  inevitable,  Diocletian's 
and  this  came  in  the  reign  of  Diocletian  and  persecutions. 
Maximian,  at  the  commencement  of  the  4th  century  a.  d. 
Gale'rius,  the  son-in-law  of  Diocletian,  and  the  Ccesar  under 
him,  was  a  special  enemy  of  the  Christians,  and  he  per- 
suaded  the  emperor  to  issue  an  edict  commanding  all  Chris- 
tian churches  to  be  pulled  down,  all  copies  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures  to  be  flung  into  the  fire,  and  all  Christians  to  be 
degraded  from  rank  and  honor.  Scarcely  was  the  proclama- 
tion posted  up,  when  a  Christian  of  noble  rank  tore  it  to 
pieces.  For  this  he  was  roasted  to  death.  A  fire  which  broke 
out  in  the  palace  twice  within  a  fortnight  was  made  a  pretext 


198  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


for  very  violent  dealings  with  the  Christians.  Those  who 
refused  to  burn  incense  to  idols  were  tortured  or  slain. 
Over  all  the  empire  the  persecution  raged,  except  in  Gaul, 
Britain,  and  Spain,  where  Constan'tius  Chlo'rus  ruled  as 
Caesar  under  Diocletian's  colleague,  Maximian.  When 
Diocletian  and  Maximian  abdicated,  and  Galerius  held 
supreme  rule  in  the  East,  he  indulged  all  his  fury  against 
the  Christians.  Says  a  historian :  "  With  little  rest  for 
eight  years,  the  whip  and  the  rack,  the  tigers,  the  hooks  of 
steel,  and  the  red-hot  beds  continued  to  do  their  deadly 
work.  And  then,  in  a.  d.  311,  when  life  was  fading  from 
his  dpng  eye,  Galerius  published  an  edict  permitting  Chris- 
tians to  worship  God  in  their  own  way." 

182.  This  was  the  turning-point  in   the  great  struggle: 

it  was  plain  that  the  most  violent  efforts   of 
despotism   were   unable   to  crush  that   which 
was  by  its  very  nature  divine  and  deathless. 

183.  We  come  now  to  a  remarkable  epoch  in  the  history 

of  Christianity,  namely,  the  reign  of  a  Roman 
emperor  who  himself  professed  Christianity. 
Con'stantine  was  the  son  of  Constantius  Chlorus.  On  the 
death  of  his  father  in  Britain  Constantine  was  at  once  pro- 
claimed emperor  by  the  soldiers  there.  He  had  immedi- 
ately to  enter  on  a  contest  with  no  fewer  than  five  rivals, 
and  the  circumstance  attending  his  conversion  is  associated 
with  an  event  that  took  place  during  this  period  of  warfare. 

184.  In  A.  D.  312,  while  on  the  march  to  attack  one  of 
His  conver-  ^is  rivals  (Maxcn'tius),  near  Rome,  Constan- 
^'°"-  tine  is  reported  to  have  seen  with  his  own  eyes 
the  luminous  trophy  of  the  cross  in  the  sky,  placed  above  the 
meridian  sun,  and  inscribed  with  the  following  words :  Bv 
THIS  CONQUER  [in  Greek,  En  touto  nika;  in  Latin,  In  hoc 
vince\.  In  the  battle  that  followed  Maxentius  was  complete- 
ly overthrown.  It  is  said  that  this  decided  Constantine  to 
be  a  Christian. 


SPREAD   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


'99 


The  Labarum. 


185.    The  early  church  historians  also  add  that  the  fol- 
lowing night  Christ  appeared   to  Constantine 
in  a  dream  and  commanded  him  to  frame  a 

similar  standard,  and  under  it  to  march  with 
an  assurance  of  victory  against  all  his  ene- 
mies. This  is  the  origin  of  the  celebrated 
Lab'arufn,  or  standard  of  the  cross,  displayed 
by  the  Christian  emperors  in  all  their  military 
expeditions.  The  top  of  the  Labarum  was 
adorned  with  a  mystic  X,  representing  at 
once  the  cross  and  the  initial  of  the  Greek 
word  for  Christ. 

186.    The  first  fruit  of  Constantine's  con- 


version  appeared   in   a   famous   Christianity 
decree  called  the  Edict  of  Milan,   ligion. 
A.  D.  313  :  this  restored  peace  to  the  Christian 
church.     The   establishment   of   Christianity 
The  Labarum.     j^g  ^q  religion  of  the  state  took  place  in  324, 
when  the  defeat  of  the  last  of  his  rivals  made  Constantine 
sole  master  of  the  Roman  world. 

187.  He  immediately,  by  circular  letters,  exhorted  all 
his  subjects  to  imitate  the  example  of  their  constantine's 
sovereign  by  embracing  the  divine  truth  of  P°i"=y- 
Christianity.  It  is  calculated  that  in  Constantine's  time 
about  a  twentieth  part  of  the  whole  population  of  the 
empire  were  professed  Christians.  The  emperor  did  not 
forbid  paganism,  but  chose  rather  to  work  by  ridicule  and 
neglect.  With  public  money  he  repaired  the  old  churches 
and  built  new  ones,  so  that  in  every  great  city  the  Pagan 
temples  were  faced  by  Christian  churches  of  rich  and 
beautiful  architecture.  The  Christian  clergy  were  freed 
from  taxes.  Sunday  was  proclaimed  a  day  of  rest.  And, 
to  crown  all,  Constantine  removed  the  seat  of  government 
to  a  new  capital,  —  Constantinople,  —  which  was  essentially 
a  Christian  city. 


200  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


188.  Julian,  known  as  Julian  the  Apostate,  who  became 
pao-anism  for-  empcror  in  A.  D.  36 1,  made  a  strong  effort  to 
bidden.  restore  the  fallen  gods ;  but  this  effort  was  in 
vain,  and  the  ruin  of  paganism  was  completed  at  the  close 
of  the  4th  century.  By  this  time  the  Christians  were  the 
great  majority  in  most  parts  of  the  empire  ;  and  Theodosius 
gave  the  final  blow  to  the  heathen  faith  by  prohibiting 
under  severe  penalties  the  worship  of  the  old  gods. 

189.  In  closing  our  review  of  the  first  spread  of  Chris- 
inteiiectuai  tianity,  we  must  note  that  the  new  faith,  in 
influence.  addition  to  its  direct  effect  on  the  belief,  the 
lives,  and  the  conduct  of  men,  had  also  important  intellectual 
results.  It  gave  the  mind  of  the  age  great  subjects  to 
grapple  with ;  and  as  the  despotism,  of  the  imperial  govern- 
ment crushed  out  all  political  speculation,  the  intellect  and 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  nations  freely  turned  to  the  grand 
problems  of  the  "  City  of  God." 

190.  There  thus  arose  a  series  of  theological  writers 
^^    ^    ^  both  in  Greek  and  Latin,  who  are  known  col- 

The  Fathers.  .  ' 

lectively  as  the  Christian  Fathers,  among  whom 
the  following  are  the  most  famous  :  — 

Tertul'lian.  Born  at  Carthage  in  a.  d.  160,  —  first  of  the  Latin  writers 
of  the  Church,  —  chief  work,  his  "  Apology  for  Christians,"  written 
about  A.  D.  198. 

Or'igen.  Born  in  Egypt  A.  D.  185  or  186,  —  editor  and  commentator  of 
the  Scriptures,  —  wrote  in  Greek. 

Cyp'rian.  Archbishop  of  Carthage  in  the  middle  of  the  3d  century, — 
chief  work,  "Unity  of  the  Church,"  —  martyred  under  Valerian. 

Am'brose.  Born  about  A.  D.  340  in  Gaul,  —  Archbishop  of  Milan, — 
chief  work,  De  Officiis,  —  vindicated  the  authority  of  the  priesthood 
over  even  emperors  and  kings,  by  condemning  Theodosius  I.  to  a  long 
and  weary  penance  for  his  massacre  of  the  Thessalonians. 

Athana'sius.  Born  in  Alexandria,  end  of  the  3d  century,  —  Patriarch  of 
Alexandria,  —  the  great  champion  of  Trinitarianism  against  Arius. 

Greg'ory  Nazian'zen.  Born  early  in  the  4th  century  in  Cappadociaj 
—  for  a  while  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  — noted  as  a  writer  of  the- 
ology and  religious  poetry. 


ROMAN  LIFE,  MANNERS,    CUSTOMS,  ETC.         201 

Chrys'ostom.  (Gold-mouth,  from  his  eloquence.)  Bom  at  Antioch, 
A.  D.  354,  —  Patriarch  of  Constantinople, —  his  works  are  in  Greek. 

Jerome.  Born  in  A.  D.  340  in  Dalma'tia, — especially  learned  in  He- 
brew, —  founder  of  Monasticism,  —  chief  work,  a  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  Latin  (known  as  the  Vulgate,  a  version  for  the  common 
people,  —  vidgiis). 

Augus'tine.  Born  in  Numid'ia,  in  Africa,  A.  D.  354,  —  Bishop  of  Hip- 
po (in  Africa),  —  is  known  as  the  Father  of  Latis  Theology, — ; 
man  of  powerful  intellect  and  eloquence,  —  chief  works,  "  On  tht 
Grace  of  Christ,"  "Original  Sin,"  the  "City  of  God,"  and  his  "Con- 
fessions "  (an  autobiography). 


4.     ROMAN   LIFE,    MANNERS,   CUSTOMS,  ETC.» 

191.    The  most  remarkable  garment  of  the  Romans  was 

the  to^a,   made  of  pure   white  wool,    and   in 

.  .  Dress. 

shape  resembling  a  segment  of  a  circle ;  nar- 
row at  first,  it 
was  folded  so 
that  one  arm  rest- 
ed as  in  a  sling; 
but  in  late  days 
it  was  draped  in 
broad,  flowing 
folds  round  the 
breast  and  left 
arm,  leaving  the 
right  nearly  bare. 
Though  its  use 
in  the  streets  was  '^m, 
in  later  times  ex- 
changed for  a 
mantle  of  warm- 
colored  cloth, 
called  the  pallium 

or  lacerfia,    yet   it  Roman  Costumes. 


*  Abridged  from  Collier's  "  Domestic  Life  in  Imperial  Rome." 


202  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

continued  to  be  the  Roman  full  dress ;  and  in  the  theater, 
when  the  emperor  was  present,  all  were  expected  to  wear 
it.  The  Romans  always  kept  the  head  uncovered,  except 
on  a  journey,  or  when  they  wished  to  escape  notice.  Then 
they  wore  a  dark-colored  hood,  which  was  fastened  to  the 
lacerna.  In  the  house  sokes  were  strapped  to  the  bare  feet  j 
but  abroad  the  calceus,  nearly  resembling  our  shoe,  was 
commonly  worn.  On  the  ring-finger,  the  fourth  of  the  left 
hand,  every  Roman  of  rank  had  a  massive  signet-ring. 
There  were  fops  who  loaded  every  finger  with  jewels ;  and 
we  are  told  of  one  poor  fellow  who  was  so  far  gone  in 
foppery  as  to  have  a  set  of  lighter  rings  for  summer  wear, 
when  his  delicate  frame  could  not  bear  the  weight  of  his 
winter  jewels. 

192.  The  dress  of  Roman  ladies  consisted  of  three  parts, 
,  —  an  inner  tunic,  the  sioia,  and  the  palla.     The 

stola,  which  was  the  distinctive  dress  of  Roman 
matrons,  was  a  tunic  with  short  sleeves,  girt  round  the  waist, 
and  ending  in  a  deep  flounce  which  swept  the  instep.  The 
palla,  a  gay-colored  mantle,  was  worn  out  of  doors.  It  was 
often  sky-blue,  sprinkled  with  golden  stars.  The  brightest 
colors  were  chosen  ;  so  that  an  assembly  of  Roman  belles,  in 
full  dress,  was  a  brilliant  scene,  sparkling  with  scarlet  and 
yellow,  purple  and  pale  green.  The  hair,  encircled  with  a 
garland  of  roses,  was  fastened  with  a  gold  pin,  while  pearls 
and  gold  adorned  the  neck  and  arms. 

193.  The  early  Romans  lived  chiefly  on  bread  and  pot 

herbs ;  but  when  wealth  was  introduced  by 
their  conquests,  luxury  seized  all  ranks,  and, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  the  imitation  of  Oriental  customs 
completely  sapped  the  abstemious  virtues  of  the  old  Romans. 
To  many,  in  the  degenerate  ages  of  Rome,  the  great  ends  of 
life  were  to  eat  the  most  delicious  food,  and  to  eat  as  much 
of  it  as  possible.  Roman  meals  were  three,  — jentaculicm, 
^randium,  and  coma.     Jentaculum,  taken  soon  after  rising, 


ROMAN  LIFE,  MANNERS,   CUSTOMS,  ETC.         203 

consisted  of  bread,  dried  grapes  or  olives,  cheese,  and  per- 
haps milk  and  eggs.  At  prandium,  the  midday  meal,  the 
Romans  partook  of  fish,  eggs,  and  dishes  cold,  or  warmed 
up  from  the  last  night's  supper.  Then,  too,  some  wine  was 
drunk.  But  coena  was  the  principal  meal,  taken  about  the 
ninth  hour,  and  on  the  whole  corresponding  to  our  dinner. 
It  began  with  eggs,  fish,  and  light  vegetables,  such  as  rad- 
ishes and  lettuces,  served  up  with  tasty  sauces,  all  being 
intended  merely  to  whet  the  appetite  for  the  more  substan- 
tial dishes  to  follow.  Then  came  the  courses  {fercula),  of 
which,  in  all  their  wonderful  variety,  no  just  idea  can  be 
given  here.  Among  fish,  turbot,  sturgeon,  and  red  mullet 
were  greatly  prized ;  among  birds,  the  peacock,  pheasant, 
woodcock,  thrush,  and  fig-pecker.  The  favorite  flesh-meat 
was  young  pork ;  but  venison  was  also  in  great  demand. 
The  courses  were  followed  by  a  dessert  of  pastry  and  fruit. 

194.  While  eating,  the  Romans  reclined  upon  low  couch- 
es, which  were  arranged  in  the  form  triclinium, 

making  three  sides  of   a  square.     The  open  ^^' 

space  was  left  for  the  slaves  to  place  or  remove  the  dishes. 
The  place  of  honor  was  on  the  middle  bench.  In  later 
times  round  tables  became  common,  and  then  semicircular 
couches  were  used.  There  were  no  table-cloths ;  but  the 
guests  wore  over  the  breast  a  linen  napkin  {mappa),  which 
they  brought  with  them.  Instead  of  knives  and  forks  two 
spoons  were  used,  —  one,  cochlear,  small  and  pointed  at  the 
end  of  the  handle  ;  the  other,  lingiila,  larger  and  of  uncertain 
shape.  The  splendor  of  a  Roman  feast  was  greatly  marred 
by  the  oil-lamps,  the  only  light  then  used.  The  lamps  them-  ■ 
selves  were  exquisite  in  shape  and  material,  as  were  all  the' 
table  utensils  ;  but  the  dripping  oil  soaked  the  table,  while 
the  thick  smoke  blackened  the  walls  and  ceiling,  and  rested 
in  flakes  of  soot  upon  the  dresses  of  the  guests. 

195.  At  feasts,  instead  of  the  toga,  short  dresses  of  red 
or  other  bright   colors  were  worn.      Before  the   drinking 


204  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

began,  chaplets  were  handed  round.  For  these  roses, 
myrtle,  violets,  ivy,  and  even  parsley  were 
used.  Before  they  were  put  on,  slaves  anointed 
the  hair  with  nard  and  other  sweet  unguents.  Wine  was 
almost  the  only  drink  used.  Before  being  brought  to  table 
it  was  sometimes  strained  through  a  metal  sieve  or  linen  bag 
filled  with  snow,  and  was  called  black  and  white  according 
to  its  color,  just  as  we  talk  of  red  and  white  wines.  The 
tamous  Falernian,  celebrated  by  Horace,  was  of  a  bright 
amber  tint.  Besides  pure  wine  they  drank  ?nulsum,  a  mix- 
ture of  new  wine  with  honey,  and  calda,  made  of  warm 
water,  wine,  and  spice. 

196.  The   Romans  spent  much  time   in  their  splendid 

baths.  The  cold  plunge  in  the  Tiber,  which 
had  braced  the  iron  muscles  of  their  ancestors, 
gave  place,  under  the  empire,  to  a  most  luxurious  and  elab- 
orate system  of  tepid  and  vapor  bathing,  often  repeated 
seven  or  eight  times  a  day.  At  the  baths  the  gossip  of 
the  day  was  exchanged. 

197.  The  theater,  with  its  tragedies   and  comedies,  the 

circus,  and  the  amphitheater  supplied  the  Ro- 

Amusements.  .,,.,..         ...  ^  , 

mans  with  their  chief  public  amusements.  At 
the  circus  they  betted  on  their  favorite  horses  or  charioteers  ; 
at  the  amphitheater  they  reveled  in  the  bloody  combats  of 
gladiators,  —  the  most  brutal  of  all  the  Roman  pastimes.  At 
the  trumpet's  sound  throngs  of  wretched  men  —  captives^ 
slaves,  or  convicted  criminals  —  closed  in  deadly  strife. 
The  trodden  sand  soon  grew  red  ;  yet  on  they  fought  with 
parched  lips  and  leaping  hearts,  for  they  knew  that  a  brave 
fight  might  win  for  them  their  freedom.  Erelong,  hacked 
and  bleeding  limbs  began  to  fail,  and  dim  eyes  turned  to 
seek  for  mercy  along  the  crowded  seats.  There  were  times 
when  the  dumb  prayer  was  answered,  and  the  down-turned 
thumbs  of  the  spectators  gave  the  signal  for  sparing  life  ; 
but  too  often  mercy  was  sought  in  vain,  and  the  sword  com- 


ROMAN  LIFE,  MANNERS,   CUSTOMS,  ETC.        205 

pieted  its  work.  Combats  of  gladiators  with  wild  beasts 
often  took  place.  Whole  armies  sometimes  thronged  the 
scene.  When  Trajan  celebrated  his  triumph,  after  his 
victories  in  Dacia,  10,000  gladiators  were  exhibited  at  once. 

198.  Roman  books  were  rolls  of  papyrus-bark,  or  parch- 
ment, written  upon  with  a  reed  pen,  dipped  in 
lamp-black  or  sepia.     The  back  of  the  sheet 

was  often  stained  with  saffron,  and  its  edges  were  rubbed 
smooth  and  blackened,  while  the  ends  of  the  stick  on  which 
it  was  rolled  (whence  our  word  volume,  "  a  roll ")  were  adorned 
with  knobs  of  ivory  or  gilt  wood.  Letters  were  etched  with 
a  sharp  iron  instrument  (stylus,  whence  our  word  style) 
upon  thin  wooden  tablets  coated  with  wax.  These  were 
then  tied  up  with  linen  thread,  the  knot  being  sealed  with 
wax  and  stamped  with  a  ring. 

199.  The  Romans  had  three  forms  of  marriage,  of  which 
the  highest  was  called  confarreatio.    The  bride, 

dressed  in  a  white  robe  with  purple  fringe,  and 
covered  with  a  bright  yellow  veil,  was  escorted  by  torch- 
light to  her  future  home.  A  cake  (far)  was  carried  before 
her,  and  she  bore  a  distaff  and  spindle  with  wool.  Arrived 
at  the  flower-wreathed  portal,  she  was  lifted  over  the  threshold 
lest  —  omen  of  evil  —  her  foot  might  stumble  upon  it.  Her 
husband  then  brought  fire  and  water,  which  she  touched  ; 
and,  seated  on  a  sheepskin,  she  received  the  keys  of  the 
house.     A  marriage  supper  closed  the  ceremony. 

200.  The  household  work  was  done  by  slaves  of  various 
classes.     In  earlier  times  a  few  sufficed  ;  but 

Slaves. 

'n  the  days  of  the  empire  it  was  thought  a  dis- 
grace not  to  have  a  slave  for  every  separate  kind  of  work. 
And  so,  besides  those  who  managed  the  purse,  the  cedar, 
the  bedrooms,  and  the  kitchen,  there  were  slaves  to  carry 
the  litter,  or  to  attend  as  their  masters  walked  abroad. 
Some,  of  higher  pretensions,  were  readers,  secretaries,  and 
physicians.     Then,  for  amusement,  there  were  musicians. 


206  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

dancers,  buffoons,  and  even  idiots.  But  all  may  be  ranked 
under  two  heads,  —  bought  slaves  and  born  slaves.  There 
vi^as  a  slave-market,  in  which  the  common  sort  were  sold 
like  cattle ;  but  the  more  beautiful  or  valuable  were  dis- 
posed of  by  private  bargain  in  the  taverns.  Prices  ranged 
from  $  20  to  $  4000, 

201.  The  disinterment  of  the  town  of  Pompeii,  which 

was  overwhelmed  by  an  eruption  of  lava  from 
Mount  Vesuvius  in  a.  d.  79,  enables  us  to 
form  a  ver}'  correct  idea  of  what  a  first-class  Roman 
house  was.  The  principal  apartments  were  on  the  ground- 
floor.  Passing  through  the  unroofed  vestibule,  often  between 
rows  of  graceful  statues,  the  visitor  entered  the  house 
through  a  doorway  ornamented  with  ivory,  tortoise-shell, 
and  gold.  On  the  threshold,  worked  in  mosaic  marble, 
was  the  kind  word  Sal've  (welcome).  Then  came  the 
atrium,  or  great  central  reception-room,  separated  from  its 
wings  by  lines  of  pillars.  Here  were  placed  the  ancestral 
images ;  and  here,  too,  was  the  focus,  or  family  fireplace 
dedicated  to  the  La'res.  Farther  in  lay  a  large  saloon  called 
the  per'istyk.  The  floor  was  generally  a  mosaic  of  colored 
marble,  tiles,  or  glass  ;  the  walls  were  carved  and  painted ; 
gilt  and  colored  stucco-work  adorned  the  ceilings  ;  while 
the  window-frames  were  filled  with  talc  or  glass.  On  the 
roofs  were  bright  gardens.  In  houses  like  these  might  be 
found  ivory  bedsteads,  with  quilts  of  purple  and  gold  ;  tables 
of  precious  wood  ;  sideboards  of  gold  and  silver,  loaded 
with  plate,  amber  vases,  beakers  of  Corinthian  bronze,  and 
glass  vessels  from  Alexandria,  whose  tints  rivaled  the  opal 
and  the  ruby. 

202.  Of  course  the   scholar  will  understand  that  these 

descriptions  apply  exclusively  to  the  wealthy. 

The  common  people  lived  as  best  they  could, 
and  we  know  very  well  that  the  richest  were  without  a  great 
many  comforts  and  conveniences  which  even  the  poor  now 
command. 


LAST  DAYS  OF  ROME.  207 


5.     LAST    DAYS   OF   ROME. 

203.  In  the  section  on  the  political  history  of  Rome  we 
brought  the  story  of  the  great  empire  down  to         . 

the  time  of  its  final  dismemberment,  in  476  a.  d. 

We  did  not,  however,  narrate  the  circumstances  attending 

the  catastrophe ;  accordingly  we  shall  now  briefly  refer  to 

these. 

204.  In  the  5th  century  of  our  era  many  things  por- 
tended the  fall  of  Rome.     Chief  of  these  was  „ 

Signs  of  decay. 

the  fact  that  the  Romans  had  really  ceased  to 
exist  as  a  nation.  The  empire  had  absorbed  the  nation. 
We  have  already  seen  that  the  Roman  race^  which  conquered 
the  world,  was  finally  swallowed  up  by  the  world  which  it 
conquered.  The  blood  itself  was  corrupted  by  alien  admix- 
ture ;  luxury  further  demoralized  the  people  ;  and  the  very 
fact  that  they  were  willing  for  the  five  hundred  years  of  the 
empire  to  sit  under  an  imperial  despotism,  shows  that  they 
were  unfit  to  be  free. 

205.  The  removal  of  the  capital  by  Constantine  from 
Rome  to  Byzantium  was  a  signal  proof  of  the  change  of  cap- 
fact  that  Italy  had  ceased  to  be  the  center  of  '**'• 

the  Roman  world.  From  this  it  was  an  easy  step  to  the 
division  of  the  empire,  which  took  place  under  the  sons  of 
Theodosius,  the  last  emperor  who  ruled  over  the  whole  of 
the  Roman  dominion.  Thenceforward  we  may  regard  the 
Roman  Empire  as  confined  to  Italy  with  the  Western  prov- 
inces, or  Gaul,  Spain,  etc.,  while  the  Eastern  empire,  com- 
prising what  we  have  called  the  Greek  and  the  Oriental 
civilizations,  pursued  a  career  of  its  own. 

206.  In  this  state  of  facts  the  Western  empire  fell  a  prey 
to  the  new  and  vigorous  Teutonic,  or  German, 

■  1  ,  r  ■  1       1     .    1     1  •       1       1         The  Teutons. 

tribes   that   for   centuries   had   inhabited    the 

forests  of  the  North.     Ever  since  the  time  of  Augustus  the 

different  German  tribes  had  been  most  dangerous  enemies 


208  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

of  Rome,  and  many  of  the  most  valiant  emperors  had 
had  much  ado  to  defend  the  empire  against  them.  One  im- 
portant result  of  the  contact  of  the  "  northern  barbarians  " 
with  the  Romans  was  that  the  Teutonic  tribes  became 
acquainted  with  Roman  civilization  and  with  Christianity  ; 
so  that  most  of  them  became  Christians  before  they  settled 
in  the  empire,  or  very  soon  afterwards. 

207.  The  first  great  lodgement  of  the  Teutons  within  the 
first  settle-  Hmits  of  the  Roman  Empire  took  place  by  per- 
ment  of  Goths,  ^igsion  of  the  Roman  Emperor  Valens,  in  the 
last  half  of  the  4th  century.  The  great  Germanic  family  of 
the  Goths  at  that  time  formed  an  extensive  kingdom  in  the 
lands  north  of  the  Danube,  —  the  lands  we  now  call  Mol- 
davia and  Wallachia.  This  region  had  been  Trajan's  prov- 
ince of  Dacia,  but  the  Romans  had  withdrawn  from  it  under 
Aurelian.  The  Goths  were  gradually  becoming  Christian3 
of  the  Arian  sect  under  the  teaching  of  a  bishop  named 
Ulfilas,  whose  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  Gothic 
tongue  is  the  oldest  Teutonic  writing  that  we  have. 

208.  Now,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  4th  century  the  Goths 
Manner  of  set-  found  themselves  pressed  upon  by  an  invasion 
tiement.  of  Huns,  —  Tartars,  or  Kalmucks,  who  had 
been  driven  out  of  Eastern  Asia,  and  were  at  this  time 
making  their  way  into  Europe.  In  their  despair  the  Goths 
asked  the  Emperor  Valens  (who  ruled  over  the  East,  while 
Valentinian  was  emperor  of  the  West)  to  allow  them  to  cross 
to  the  south  side  of  the  Danube,  and  thus  put  that  stream 
between  them  and  their  hideous  foes.  Leave  was  granted, 
on  condition  that  they  should  give  up  their  children  and 
their  arms.  The  bargain  was  struck  at  once.  Roman 
boats  w^ere  provided,  and  for  many  days  and  nights  the 
broad  river  was  torn  into  foam  by  the  ceaseless  splash  oi 
oars.  The  fugitives,  surrendering  their  children  with  little 
concern,  gladly  paid  away  all  they  had  as  bribes  to  the 
Roman  officers  for  leave  to  keep  their  arms.     In  this  way 


LAST  DA  YS  OF  ROME.  209 


an  immense  body  of  fierce  warriors  (men,  women,  and  slaves 
numbered  nearly  a  million  souls)  settled,  sword  in  hand, 
within  one  of  the  great  natural  frontiers  of  the  empire, 
376  A.  D. 

209.  The  Goths  had  humbly  vowed  that  they  would  for- 
ever make  it  their  grateful  duty  to  guard  the  xheir  behav- 
Roman  borders.  In  spite  of  this  they  had  *°''- 
hardly  been  allowed  to  settle  south  of  the  Danube  when  they 
turned  their  arms  against  Valens.  It  must  be  said,  however, 
that  for  this  they  were  not  wholly  without  excuse  ;  the  offi- 
cers of  the  emperor  treated  them  in  the  most  scandalous 
manner,  and  left  them  to  starve.  In  this  plight  they  resolved 
to  help  themselves  ;  they  accordingly  advanced  towards  Con- 
stantinople. The  imperial  army  met  them  near  Hadriano'ple, 
where  a  battle  took  place  that  was  most  disastrous  to  the 
Romans,  and  in  which  Valens  lost  his  life,  A.  D.  378.  The 
Goths,  having  now  nothing  to  fear,  spread  themselves  over 
the  fertile  country  westward  to  the  confines  of  Italy  and  the 
Adriatic  Sea. 

210.  Under  Theodosius  the  Great,  who  became  emperor 
of  the  East  in  a.  d.  379,  the  Goths  were  brought 

to  capitulate,  and  settle  down  quietly,  and  large 
numbers  took  service  in  the  Roman  armies  ;  but  this  course 
was  only  preparing  the  inevitable  result.     When  the  two 
feeble  sons  of  Theodosius  divided  between  them  the  Roman 
world,  the  Visigoths  (i.  e.  Western  Goths)  revolted,   and, 
hoisting  their  chief,  Alaric,  upon  their  shields,  according  to 
their  national  mode  of  electing  a  king,  precipitated  them- 
selves upon  Italy.     Rome  was  captured  and  sacked  (a.  d. 
410),  and  all  Southern  Italy  was  overrun. 
,  211.    And  now  the  great  Western  empire  was  fast  dissolv- 
ing.    In  the  early  part  of  the  5th  century  three   signs  of  dis- 
fragments  broke  off  from  the  decaying  trunk,   solution. 
The  province  of  Britain  was  evacuated  by  the  Romans  and 
was  soon  overran  by  the  German  tribes  called  Angles  and 

N 


2IO  HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

Saxons.  The  various  Teutonic  tribes  were  pressing  into 
Gaul,  and  from  Gaul  into  Spain.  Spain  was  conquered 
by  Vandals,  Sueves,  and  other  German  races  ;  while  Gaul 
was  filled  with  Franks  and  Burgundians  and  Goths,  —  all  of 
whom  belonged  to  the  great  Teutonic  family.  The  province 
of  Africa,  too,  was  lost ;  for  a  band  of  Vandals  under  Gen'- 
seric  passed  over  from  Spain  to  Carthage,  which  was  con- 
quered in  A.  D.  439. 

212.  Meanwhile  At'tila  the  Hun  had  gone  forth  from  his 

log-house  on  the  plain  of  Hungary,  at  the  head 
of  half  a  million  savages,  to  conquer  the  world. 
Crossing  the  Rhine,  he  pierced  to  the  center  of  Gaul ;  but 
at  Chalons  he  was  defeated  by  the  united  power  of  the  Ro- 
mans, Goths,  and  Franks,  a.  D.  451.  In  this  memorable 
battle,  Aryan  civilization  and  Tartar  despotism  met  in  a 
life-and-death  struggle,  and  the  nobler  triumphed.  Being 
defeated  in  Gaul,  Attila  climbed  the  Alps  and  overran  Italy, 
pillaging  and  destroying  through  all  the  northern  prov- 
inces. It  is  a  strange  fact  that  it  was  through  the  persua- 
sion of  the  Pope,  Leo  I.,  that  Attila  was  induced  to  return  to 
Hungary.  Here  he  soon  afterwards  broke  a  blood-vessel. 
So  died  one  whose  savage  boast  it  was  that  grass  never 
grew  on  a  spot  where  his  horse  had  trodden.  His  great 
empire  immediately  fell  to  pieces. 

213.  No  sooner  had  Attila  departed  than  Genseric,  the 

Vandal  chief  of  Africa,  crossed  over  from  Car- 
thage and  anchored  his  ships  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Tiber.  This  time  the  persuasion  of  Leo  could  not  save 
the  city.  Rome  was  captured  (a.  d.  455),  and  for  fourteen 
days  Vandals  and  Moors  wrecked  and  pillaged  without 
mercy.  Shiploads  of  treasure  and  crowds  of  captives  were 
carried  over  the  sea  to  Carthage. 

214.  During  these  events  there  were  still  emperors  of 
Downfall  of  the  West,  and  their  names  will  be  found  in  the 
Rome.  2ist.     But  they  were  mere  nonentities,  for  the 


LAST  DAYS   OF  ROME. 


211 


real  power  was  in  the  hands  of  the  barbarians.  At  last  the 
Roman  senate  voted  that  one  emperor  was  enough,  and 
tliat  the  Eastern  emperor,  Zeno,  should  reign  over  the 
whole  empire  ;  but  at  the  same  time  Zeno  was  made  to  trust 
.the  government  of  Italy  to  Odoa'cer,  chief  of  the  German 
Herulians,  who  took  the  title  of  Patrician  of  Italy.  The  last 
of  the  Western  Roman  emperors  was  Romulus  Augustulus, 
a  handsome  but  feeble  youth.  Him  they  pensioned  off  in 
A.  D.  476.  Then,  "  when  Odoacer  was  proclaimed  king  of 
Italy,  the  phantom  assembly  that  still  called  itself  the  Ro- 
man senate  sent  back  to  Constantinople  the  tiara  and  purple 
robe,  in  sign  that  the  Western  empire  had  passed  away."  * 


«  White's  "  Eighteen  Christian  Centuries." 


Goths   before   Rome. 


212  MEDIMVAL   HISTORY. 


SECTION    IV. 
MEDIEVAL     HISTORY. 

INTRODUCTION. 

1.  Modern  history,  in  a  comprehensive  sense,  begins 
Scope  of  mod-  with  the  downfall  of  the  Western  Roman 
em  history.  Empire ;  for  with  that  event  the  volume  of 
ancient  history  was  closed :  new  actors  then  appeared  on 
the  stage,  and  a  new  civilization  arose.  It  will,  however,  be 
convenient  to  consider  the  fourteen  centuries  that  have 
elapsed  since  the  breaking  up  of  Rome  as  divided  into 
two  parts.  The  first  part  constitutes  what  is  usually  called 
the  Middle  Ages.  This  period  embraces  one  thousand 
years  ;  that  is,  it  extends  from  about  the  close  of  the  5th  to 
the  close  of  the  15th  century  of  our  era.  From  the  close 
of  the  15th  century  down  to  the  present  time  is  modem 
history  in  its  narrower  sense. 

2.  It  was  during  the  thousand  years  from  the  5th  to  the 
Real  nature  of  ^Sth  century  that  the  civilization  of  modem 
this  period.  Europe  was  ripening.  In  many  respects  this 
period  seemed  a  relapse  into  barbarism,  and  the  interval 
from  the  5th  to  the  nth  centuiy  is  sometimes  called 
specifically  the  Dark  Ages.  But  in  a  juster  view  it  was 
the  germinating  season :  the  seeds  of  modern  civilization, 
cast  into  the  soil,  were  quickening  in  new  institutions  and 
new  nations ;  so  that  when  v/e  see  modern  society  in  the 
15th  and  1 6th  centuries  assuming  the  fixed  shape  which  it 
still  wears,  we  must  remember  that  it  grew  into  that  shaoe 
in  the  antecedent  thousand  years. 


THE  NEW  RACES.  213 


CHAPTER    I. 
THE     NEW     RACES. 

3.  The  historical  races  of  Europe  comprise  four  grand 
divisions    of    tlie    great    Aryan    stock,  —  the   Historical 
Grffico-Latins,  the  Celts,  the  Teutons,  and  the   Europe. 
Slaves,  or  Slavonians. 

4.  In    the    ancient    history   of    Europe    we    have   been 
occupied  exclusively  with  one  of  these  races, 

Grsco-Latins. 

—  the  Grasco-Latins.     The    three  other  races 

—  the  Celts,  Teutons,  and  Slavonians  —  belong  wholly  to 
modern  history. 

5.  It  is  known  that  the  ancestors  of  these  races  came 
originally  from  Asia,  where  they  formed  one  unity  of 
family  with  the  forefathers  of  the  Hindoos  ^'"y^^  races, 
and  Persians,  —  the  term  Aryan,  or  Indo-European,  being 
used  to  indicate  their  common  lineage.  The  migration  of 
these  races  into  Europe  was  at  a  period  that  antedates 
recorded  history  (probably  as  far  back  as  2500  b.  c). 

6.  The  evidence  of  language  goes  to  show  that  the  first 
wave  of  migration  brought  the  race  which  we  order  of 
designate  as  Celts.  These  established  them-  migration, 
selves  in  Central  Europe.  After  a  time,  however,  they 
were  pressed  upon  by  the  Teutonic  incomers,  and  the 
result  was  that  the  Celts  were  driven  into  Western  Europe, 
while  the  Teutons  possessed  themselves  of  Central  and 
Eastern  Europe.  Whether  the  forefathers  of  the  Hellenic 
and  Latin  races  appeared  previous  to  or  subsequent  to  the 
Teutons  is  mere  matter  of  conjecture.  At  a  subsequent 
date  the  Slavonic  race  made  their  appearance  in  Europe  ; 
and  the  effect  of  this  was  that  the  Teutons  were  wedged 
into  Central  and  Northwestern  Europe,  while  the  Slavo- 
nians overspread  the  whole  of  the  great  Eastern  plain. 


214  MEDIAEVAL   HISTORY. 

7.  The  original  civilization  of  ancient  Europe  was  con- 
Ancient  Aryan  fined  to  the  two  Mediterranean  peninsulas, 
civilization.  Greece  and  Italy,  where  a  favored  branch  of 
the  Ar}'an  race  attained  to  social  organization  and  to  a 
high  development  in  culture,  while  their  brethren,  the  Celts, 
Teutons,  and  Slaves,  still  remained  in  an  undeveloped  con- 
dition, without  written  language,  or  literature,  or  the  useful 
or  fine  arts,  or  the  varied  appliances  of  civilization.  Out- 
side of  Greece  and  Italy  the  European  world  was  a  world 
of  barbarians. 

8.  The  Greeks  had  no  influence  whatever  in  civilizing 
Influence  of       the   barbarians ;  but   it   was  different   in    the 

Rome  on  the  ^,^        ,  i         ,^    , 

Celts.  case  of  Rome.     Of  the  three  races,  the  Celts 

first  came  in  contact  with  the  Romans.  The  Gauls  of  Cis- 
alpine Gaul  were  Celts,  and  we  have  seen  that  these  were 
brought  into  subjection  by  the  Romans  under  the  republic, 
and  that  they  received  the  Roman  franchise  at  the  hands  of 
Julius  Csesar.  Under  the  same  conqueror  the  vast  popula- 
tion of  Transalpine  Gaul  (France)  was  brought  under  the 
rule  of  Rome,  and  in  the  end  Roman  citizenship  was 
extended  to  the  whole  mass.  The  same  thing  took  place 
in  the  case  of  the  Celt-Ibe'rians  of  Spain.  The  Celts  of  the 
British  Islands,  also,  were  received  into  the  Roman  family. 
The  result  of  their  contact  with  the  Romans  was  that  the 
Celtic  populations  of  Gaul  and  Spain  had  become  thorough- 
ly Latinized  and  Christianized  before  the  breaking  up  of 
the  Western  empire. 

9.  The   Teutons   do  not   begin  to  affect  the    course  of 

history    till  we    come   to  the  series    of  events 
eu  ons.  attending  the  downfall  of   Rome.     It  is  now 

that  the  Germanic  race  commences  its  existence,  now  that 
it  begins  to  play  its  mighty  part.  The  history  of  the 
Middle  Ages  is  the  histor}'  of  the  incorporation  of  Teutonic, 
or  Germanic,  barbarians  with  the  Latin  and  Celtic  elements  ; 
modern  society  is  the  result  of  the  blending  of  the  two  j  and 


THE  NEW  RACES.  215 


it  derives  ingredients  from  both,  —  from  the  barbarians  the 
love  of  personal  liberty  and  the  sense  of  independence,  from 
the  Romans  the  forms  of  a  long-estabHshed  civilization. 

10.  In  a  general  way,  the  terms  Teutonic,  Gothic,  Ger- 
manic, are  all  used  as  synonymous,  and  are  unity  of 
employed  indifferently  to  designate  this  mighty  Teutons, 
central  family  of  Europe.  Its  unity  is  evidenced  by  the 
kinship  of  the  forms  of  Teutonic  speech.  And  this  individ- 
uality of  speech,  as  we  might  suppose,  accompanies  an 
individuality  of  race,  so  that,  in  the  analysis  of  the  compo- 
nent elements  of  European  civilization,  that  which  is  Teu- 
tonic is  readily  recognizable  as  a  thing  quite  apart  from 
that  which  is  classic  or  Celtic  or  Slavonic. 

11.  The   chief    Germanic    tribes    were    the    Goths,    the 
Franks,    the   Vandals,    the    Burgundians,    the 
Lombards,  the  Saxons,  the  Angles,    and  the 
Scandinavians. 

12.  The  earliest  home  of  the  Goths  was   Scandinavia, 
where  we  can  still  mark  their  dwelling-places 

by  such  words  as  Godoland,  Godesconzia 
(Castle  of  the  Goths),  and,  plainer  still,  Gothland.  But  the 
roving  spirit  natural  to  barbarism  would  not  let  them  rest 
content  with  their  native  swamps  and  forests.  They  began 
to  push  southward  about  a.  d.  200 ;  and  we  soon  find 
them  in  Central  Europe  in  three  great  divisions,  —  Visi- 
goths (i.  e.  West  Goths),  Os'trogoths  (i.  e.  East  Goths), 
and  Gep'idae  {Lagganis).*  The  Goths  were  the  first  of  the 
Teutons  to  come  under  the  influence  of  Christianity.  A 
considerable  time  before  the  downfall  of  the  Western 
Empire  they  had  been  converted  from  paganism  to  the 
form  of  Christianity  called  Arianism. 

13.  Of  some  of  the  other  Germanic  tribes  we  have  al- 

*  The  circumstances  under  which  the  Goths  were  admitted  within  the 
limits  of  the  Roman  Empire  have  already  been  told.     See  page  208. 


2l6  MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 

ready  caught  a  glimpse  or  two  in  the  confused  and  shifting 
Movements  of  sccnes  attending  the  breaking  up  of  the  West- 
^'■'^^^-  ern  Empire.    Thus  pressed  by  the  Gothic  inva- 

sions, a  mingled  host  of  Vandals,  Sueves,  and  Burgundians 
left  the  uplands  between  the  springs  of  the  Rhine  and 
the  Danube  early  in  the  5th  century.  The  Burgundians 
settled  in  Eastern  Gaul,  and  have  left  their  memorial  in 
the  name  of  the  district  of  Burgundy.  The  Vandals  and 
Sueves  pushed  on  to  Spain  and  founded  a  kingdom  in  the 
northwest  corner  of  the  peninsula.  This  was  before  the 
downfall  of  Rome.  But  the  kingdom  did  not  last  long ;  for 
the  Visigoths,  following  soon  after,  defeated  the  Sueves  and 
Vandals,  and  founded  a  Visigothic  kingdom  in  Spain  about 
A.  D.  414.  This  may  be  called  the  first  of  the  modern  king- 
doms of  Europe.  Meantime  the  fierce  Vandals,  leaving  be- 
hind them  their  name  in  "  Andalu'sia  "  (once  Vati'dalos), 
crossed  to  Africa,  where  they  founded  a  state  of  which  Car- 
thage was  the  center.  It  did  not  endure,  being  absorbed 
a  century  afterwards  in  the  Eastern  Empire. 

14.  The  Franks  (from  an  old  German  word  signifying  a 

battle-ax)  we  first  find  inhabiting  what  we  now 
call  Belgium  and  the  lower  courses  of  the 
Rhine  ;  but  in  the  stormy  period  just  before  the  downfall  of 
Rome  they  pressed  into  Gaul.  Under  their  leader,  Clovis, 
they  took  iirm  root  in  Gaul,  conquered  the  Burgundians  who 
were  in  the  southeast  and  the  Visigoths  who  were  in  the 
southwest,  and  thus,  just  about  the  time  Rome  fell,  estab- 
lished that  kingdom  of  the  Franks  which  afterwards  came 
to  be  called  France  (from  Francia,  the  land  of  the  Franks). 

15.  Of  those  particular  German  tribes  that  were  directly 
Germans  in  conccmed  in  the  downfall  of  Rome  we  have 
^^'y-  already  seen  something.  First  were  the  Visi- 
goths, who  swarmed  down  on  Italy.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  Odoacer,  chief  of  the  Visigothic  tribe  of  the  Heruli, 
was  made  Patrician,  or  king  of  Italy,  in  a.  d.  4.76.     We  shaU 


THE  NEW  RACES.  ZIJ 

afterwards  see  that  the  Visigoths  were  succeeded  first  by 
the  Ostrogoths  and  then  by  the  Lombards.  The  original 
home  of  the  Lombards  was  in  Jutland ;  but  they  afterwards 
moved  to  the  banks  of  the  Elbe  ;  then,  passing  southeast 
towards  the  Danube,  they  made  it  a  starting-point  for  their 
march  upon  Italy,  where,  as  we  shall  see,  they  displaced 
the  Ostrogoths  at  the  end  of  the  6th  century,  and  where 
the  name  Lom'bardy  still  points  out  the  scene  of  their 
greatest  triumph. 

16.  The  Saxons  (knife-men,  from  Sachs)  at  first  occupy- 
ing Holstein,  soon  spread  over  the  basin  of 

the  Weser.  Two  kindred  tribes  —  Angles  and  "^  ° 
Jutes  —  filled  the  peninsula  of  Denmark.  The  various 
tribes  in  the  low  countries  along  the  North  Sea  are  known 
as  Low  Germans,  and  their  languages  as  the  Low  German 
type  of  the  Teutonic  speech.  They  had  never  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  Romans,  and  were  still  pagans  when  Rome  fell. 
These  tribes  are  of  great  interest  to  us,  because  it  was  rov- 
ing bands  from  among  them  that  in  the  5  th  century  crossed 
over  to  Britain  and  laid  the  foundations  of  England,  the 
land  of  the  Angles,  and  began  the  Saxon  kingdom  and  the 
English  language. 

17.  We  have  now  named  the  chief  Teutonic  tribes  with 
the  exception  of  the  Scandinavians.     We  shall 

,  -     ,  -n       1  1111     Scandinavians. 

not  hear  of  them  till  about  the  9th  and  loth 
centuries,  when  they  appear  as  IVorsemen. 

18.  The  fourth  representative  of  the  Aryan  stock  in  Eu- 
rope are  the  Slavonians,  or  Slaves,  of  the  great  The  siavoni- 
Eastern  Plain.  They  do  not  begin  to  play  any  ^"^• 
important  part  in  history  till  well  on  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  word  "  slave "  (borrowed  from  the  proper  noun  Slave) 
is  sadly  suggestive  of  the  woes  they  suffered  during  the 
long  wars  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  Poles  belonged  to  the 
Slavonian  race  ;  but  the  foremost  national  representative  of 
this  stock  are  the  Russians.  Russia,  however,  was  not  a 
civilized  country  till  comparatively  modern  times. 


2l8  MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 

19.  Europe  is  mainly  possessed  by  Aryans,  but  not 
Non-Aryan  wholly.  In  the  centurics  of  confusion  wild 
^^'=-^^-  Iiordes  from  the  Ural  Mountains  swept  down 
on  the  Danube.  We  have  seen  how  the  Tartar  Huns 
under  Attila  overran  Europe.  They  were  defeated,  but 
not  entirely  driven  out  of  Europe.  They  all  pressed  upon 
one  point,  —  modern  Hungary,  with  its  grain-growing  vales 
and  gem-producing  hills.  Lastly  came  the  Mag'yars,  who 
were  also  Mongols  or  Tartars,  and  who,  settling  down  in 
the  basin  of  the  Danube,  stayed  there.  They  became 
Christianized  and  civilized  about  1000  a.  d.,  and  gradually 
took  shape  as  the  noble  Hungarian  nation.  The  Turks, 
who  captured  Constantinople  and  overthrew  the  Byzantine 
Empire,  were  also  Mongols,  or  Tartars,  and  they  have  re- 
tained a  foothold  in  Europe  (Turkey)  up  to  the  present  time. 

20.  We  must  now  glance  at  the  languages  of  the  new 
Rise  of  the  Ro-  nations  that  arose  on  the  ruins  of  the  Roman 
mance  tongues.  Empire.  At  the  time  the  Teutonic  tribes 
forced  their  way  into  Italy  and  the  western  provinces  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  Latin  had  become  the  common  speech  ot. 
Gaul  and  Spain,  no  less  than  of  Italy.  The  old  Celtic  of 
Gaul  and  the  Celt-Iberian  of  Spain,  which  Avere  spoken  be- 
fore the  Roman  conquest,  lived  on  only  in  a  few  out-of-the 
way  corners.  Thus  the  language  which  the  Teutonic  set- 
tlers found  prevailing  was  Latin,  —  not  pure  Latin,  of  course, 
but  still  Latin.  As  the  Teutonic  settlers  were  far  outnum- 
bered by  the  native  populations,  they  had  to  learn  Latin  in 
order  to  communicate  with  the  people  of  the  provinces ;  but 
in  learning  the  tongue  they  further  changed  and  corrupted 
it  to  some  extent.  Accordingly  the  common  language  of 
Italy,  Gaul,  and  Spain  became  a  sort  of  corrupt  Latin,  which 
was  called  Rofnan,  while  classical  Latin  was  still  written  by 
scholars.  Gradually  in  these  three  countries  differences  of 
dialect  arose,  and  the  common  Roman  gradually  developed 
uito  the  Italian,  French,  and  Spanish :  these  languages  are 


THE  NEW  RACES. 


219 


English. 


Still  called  the  Romance  tongues,  to  show  their  derivation 
from  the  speech  of  the  Romans. 

21.  In  Britain  the  Germanic  invaders,  as  we  shall  find, 
did  not  mix  with  the  Celtic-speaking  Britons ; 
hence  the  language  of  Anglo-Saxon  England 
was  purely  Teutonic,  and  it  did  not  become  affected  by 
Romance  influence  until  England  was  conquered  in  the 
nth  century  by  the  French-speaking  Normans. 

22.  The  new  nations  of  purely  Teutonic  stock  that  arose 
in   Germany  and    Scandinavia   were   in   their 

speech  wholly  unaffected  by  Latin   influence  ; 

so  that  their  languages  were  unmixed  Teutonic.     These  are 

the  German,  Dutch,  Swedish,  Norwegian,  Danish,  etc. 

23.  The  Slavonic  people  speak  languages  of  their  own. 
—  languages  which  belong  to  the  great  Aryan 

stock  of  tongues,  but  which  are  quite  distinct 
from  the  Romance  tongues  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Ger- 
manic tongues  on  the  other. 


Romance    (Italian, 

languages. )  French, 

(  Spanish. 


Germanic  \ 

and        V  English. 
Romance.  \ 


Germanic. 


Celtic. 


High  German,  or  the  tongues  of  Southern  Germany, — 

the  "  German  "  of  our  day. 
Low  German,  the  tongues  spoken  by  the  dwellers  in 

Northern   or   sea-coast   Germany,  represented   by   the 

Dutch  of  our  day. 
Scandinavian,  including  the  Swedish,  Danish,  Nor- 

wegian,  and  Icelandic 


Gaelic  Scotch, 
Erse  of  Ireland. 


Slavonian.  I  Jus^^^N' 
J  Polish. 


220 


MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 


THE    BYZANTINE   EM  FIRE.  22 » 

CHAPTER    II. 

THREE     CENTURIES     OF     HISTORY. 
I.     THE   BYZANTINE   EMPIRE. 

24.  When  the  feeble  hand  of  Rome  let  go,  in  her  decay, 
the  Latin  provinces  of  the  empire,  the  tradi  Eastern  Em- 
tion,  and  in  some  respects  the  substance,  of  p'*"^- 
Roman  dominion  still  continued  in  the  East.  The  Western 
Empire,  as  we  have  seen,  went  all  to  ruin,  and  finally 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  barbarians ;  but  the  Eastern 
Empire  was  not  involved  in  the  universal  wreck,  and  for  a 
thousand  years  after  the  downfall  of  the  Latin  Empire,  — 
during  which  time  the  new  nationalities  and  the  new  civili- 
zation of  Europe  were  coming  into  being,  —  the  Eastern, 
Greek,  or  Byzantine  Empire,  as  it  is  called,  continued  to 
subsist,  though  in  a  state  of  premature  and  perpetual  decay. 

25.  The  Byzantine  Empire  was  in  the  meridian  of  its 
glory  in  the  6th  century  during  the  long  reign  Reign  of  jus- 
of  Justin'ian,  A.  D.  527-565.  Justinian  was  ^'"'a"- 
famous  for  his  buildings,  especially  for  the  great  church  of 
St.  Sophia  at  Constantinople ;  but  his  name  is  still  more 
honorably  connected  with  the  mighty  work  of  putting  the 
laws  of  Rome  into  the  shape  of  a  regular  code.  Nobody 
could  know  the  law,  for  there  were  so  many  contradictory 
decrees  and  decisions.  With  the  aid  of  a  great  jurist  named 
Tribo'nian,  and  other  learned  men,  that  complete  system  of 
Roman  law  called  the  Civil  Law,  which  has  formed  the 
groundwork  of  the  law  of  most  of  the  nations  of  Europe 
(England  the  most  notable  exception),  was  reduced  into 
what  are  called  the  Code,  the  Ifistitutes,  and  the  Pandects. 

26.  We  shall  not  be  greatly  concerned  with  the  affairs  of 
the  Eastern  Empire,  because  progress  lay  not  there,  but  in 


222  MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 

the  West.  Byzantine  civilization,  with  its  poHsh  and  leam- 
NatureofBy-  ing  and  culturc  on  the  surface,  was  petrified 
tory.  and  dead  at  the  core,  while  it  was  the  so-called 

"  barbarous  "  races  of  Western  Europe  that  alone  held  the 
promise  of  the  future.  Still,  it  is  necessary  constantly  to 
bear  in  mind  the  existence  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  and  also 
the  fact  that  the  emperors  at  Constantinople  claimed  to  rule 
over  all  the  dominion  of  their  predecessors  ;  for  this  claim 
was  put  forth  whenever  there  was  any  chance  of  making  it 
good. 

2.     ITALY   DOWN  TO    CHARLEMAGNE. 

27.  It  has  been  seen  that  the  Western  Empire  came  to 
The  Ostro-  ^n  end  when  the  Visigothic  chief,  Odoacer, 
goths.  became  king  of  Italy.  Odoacer  went  on  gov- 
erning, professedly  by  authority  derived  from  the  Emperor 
of  the  East,  but  in  reality  giving  very  little  heed  to  the 
Byzantine  court.  In  the  mean  time  the  Ostrogoths,  or 
Eastern  Goths,  had  established  an  Ostrogothic  kingdom 
between  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Adriatic,  which  was  ruled 
by  their  young  hero-king  Theod'oric,  or  Dietrich.  They 
were  partly  allies,  but  quite  as  much  enemies,  of  the  Em- 
peror of  the  East ;  so  the  Emperor  Zeno  gave  Theodoric 
a  commission  to  march  into  Italy  and  bring  that  country 
back  to  the  empire.  The  march  of  Theodoric  was  the 
emigration  of  an  entire  people,  —  the  soldiers  being  accom- 
panied by  their  wives,  children,  and  aged  parents,  with  all 
their  effects  in  an  immense  number  of  wagons.  After  a 
three  years'  struggle  Odoacer  was  compelled  to  capitulate 
(a.  d.  493),  and  he  was  soon  after  assassinated  by  his  rival 
at  a  solemn  banquet. 

28.  Theodoric  secured  his  conquest  by  distributing  one 
Reign  of  The-  third  of  the  lands  of  Italy  to  his  soldiers  in 
odoric.  military  tenures.  This  partition  was  effected 
with  very  little  violence  to  the  ancient  possessors,  and  the 


ITALY  DOWN  TO   CHARLEMAGNE.  223 

Goths  were  instructed  to  spare  the  people  and  to  reverence 

the  laws.  Under  Theodoric's  wise  rule  Italy  revived,  and 
Romans  and  Ostrogoths  lived  in  peace  and  plenty :  the  fair- 
haired  Goths,  still  wearing  their  furs  and  brogues,  carried 
the  sword,  while  the  Romans,  wrapped  in  the  flowing  toga, 
held  the  pen  and  filled  the  schools.  So  passed  three-and- 
thirty  years,  until  Theodoric  died,  in  a.  d.  526,  and  then 
frightful  scenes  of  blood  were  enacted  over  his  fallen 
throne. 

29.  In  the  confusion  that  followed,  the  Byzantine  gov- 
ernment took  the  opportunity  to  interfere.  Reconquestby 
At  this  time  the  Emperor  of  the  East  was  J^stmian. 
Justinian,  the  first  able  ruler  that  had  sat  on  the  throne  of 
Constantinople  since  the  downfall  of  the  Western  Empire. 
His  general,  Belisa'rius,  a  man  of  great  military  talent,  now 
marched  with  the  imperial  forces  into  Italy,  and  captured 
Rome.  Nar'ses,  the  successor  of  Belisarius,  completed  the 
overthrow  of  the  Ostrogothic  power  in  Italy,  a.  d.  553. 
Italy  was  thus  reduced  to  a  Byzantine  province,  and  was 
governed  by  rulers  appointed  from  Constantinople  and 
called  Exarchs  of  Raven'na. 

30,  Three  years  after  the  death  of  Justinian  (a.  d.  565), 
Italy,  then    a   dependency  of   Constantinople   Lombard  in- 
and  governed  by  an  exarch  residing  at  Raven-  ^asion. 

na,  was  overwhelmed  by  the  last  of  the  three  great  Teuton- 
ic deluges.  The  Lombards  (so  called  from  their  long  bardi, 
or  spears,)  moved  from  Central  Europe,  crossed  the  Alps, 
and  descended  into  the  basin  of  the  Po,  settling  in  the 
extensive  district  known  even  yet  as  Lombardy.  They  took 
possession  of  this  region,  and  made  Pavi'a  their  capital, 
A.  D.  568.  The  Lombards  treated  the  Italians  with  great 
cruelty,  and  committed  ravages  on  every  side.  Among  the 
results  of  such  oppression  was  the  flight  of  various  Roman 
families  to  the  islands  and  lagoons  at  the  head  of  the  Adri- 
atic, where,  a  few  years  before,  had  been  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Venetian  state. 


224  MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 

31.  While  the    Lombards  overran  the   greater   part  of 

Italy,  the   Byzantine  power  still  retained  Ra- 

Later  history.  -r.  xt       1  ^-  r    .1 

venna,  Rome,  Naples,  a  portion  or  the  coast- 
line, and  most  of  the  southern  part.  So  we  see  that  the 
Eastern  Empire  upheld  its  title  in  the  peninsula,  and  for 
two  hundred  years  the  Lombard  kings  and  the  exarchs  of 
Ravenna  divided  Italy  between  them.  The  last  Lombard 
king  was  Deside'rius,  who  was  made  prisoner  by  Charle- 
magne in  A.  D.  774.  This  brings  the  history  of  Italy  down 
to  the  time  when  it  falls  into  the  general  history  of  the  Em- 
pire of  Charlemagne,  and  concerning  this  we  are  to  learn 
fully  hereafter. 

3.     BEGINNINGS  OF   FRANCE. 

32.  In   the   stormy  period,  when   the  Western  Roman 

Empire  was  falling  to  pieces,  various  Teutonic 
tribes  established  themselves  in  Gaul.  There 
were  Visigoths  and  Burgundians  and  Franks,  but  in  the 
end  the  Franks  under  Chlod'wig,  or  Clovis  (which  is  the 
same  as  Ludwig,  or  Louis),  got  the  upper  hand ;  so  when 
Clovis  fixed  his  capital  at  Paris  (Lute'tia),  in  a.  d.  507,  we 
may  say  that  the  foundation  of  France  was  laid.  When 
the  Franks  came  into  Gaul  they  were  pagans,  but  they  were 
soon  converted  to  be  Christians. 

33.  The  Franks  were  too  powerful  and  too  far  off  for 
Relations  to  the  Byzantine  emperors  to  have  much  real 
Constantinople,  authority  over  them  ;  so  they  were  held  to  be 
friends  of  the  empire,  and  from  Constantinople  a  gold 
crown  and  purple  robes  were  sent  to  Clovis. 

34.  On  the  death  of  Clovis,  his  dominions  were  divided 
Successors  of  ^mong  his  four  sons.  For  over  two  centuries, 
Clovis.  during  the  whole  period  of  the  first  Frankish 
dynasty  (called  Merovin'gian,  after  Merowig,  the  supposed 
grandfather  of  Clovis),  there  is  nothing  to  relate  but  a  series 
of  crimes  and  violences.  Latterly  the  Frankish  kings  be- 
came mere  imbeciles,  and  were  too  weak  to  be  wicked  even. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  ENGLAND.  22 5 

35.  In  this  state  of  aftairs  a  remarkable  arrangement  was 
made :  the  real  power  passed  into  the  hands  Mayors  of  the 
of  a  sort  of  prime  minister  styled  the  Mayor  P^i^^^e. 

of  the  Palace,  —  an  oft  cer  chosen  by  the  nobles  to  be  the 
guide  and  controller  of  the  sovereign.  As  the  Mayor  of 
the  Palace  had  the  command  of  the  army,  he  was  the  real 
king  and  carried  on  all  the  affairs  of  the  nation,  while  the 
phantoms  of  royalty  called  the  "  sluggard  kings  "  (rots  fai- 
neants) combed  the  long  yellow  hair  which  they  regarded 
as  the  sign  of  their  kingship. 

36.  One  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  Mayors  of  the 
Palace  was  Karl,  or  Charles,  Martel,  who  up- 

,,,,„,.,  .  ,  ,    Charles  Martel. 

held  the  r  rankish  power  most  vigorously,  and, 

what  is  more,  by  his  defeat  of  the  Saracens  in  a.  d,  732, 

saved  all  Europe  from  being  subjugated  by  Mohammedan 

rule. 

The  Saracenic  invasion  will  be  related  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

37.  The  son  of  Charles  Martel,  Pepin,  succeeded  his 
father  as  Mayor  of  the  Palace  ;  but  under  him 

this  absurd  arrangement  was  ended.  He  shut 
up  the  puppet-king  in  a  convent,  and  was  himself  made  king 
of  the  Franks  and  anointed  such  by  the  Pope  a.  d.  753. 
Thus  the  second,  or  Carlovin'gian,  dynasty  began.  Now, 
Pepin's  son  and  the  inheritor  of  his  crown  was  that  very 
Karl,  or  Charles,  who  is  known  in  history  as  Charlemagne  ; 
and  about  him  and  his  doings  we  shall  learn  more  fully 
hereafter. 

4.    BEGINNINGS  OF  ENGLAND. 

38.  We  must  now  look  for  a  moment  at  another  series 
of  events  happening  in  an  obscure  corner  of  the   Angio-Saxon 
once  great  empire  of  the  West,  and  see  how  the   conquest, 
foundations  of  the  nation  that  afterwards  rose  to  be  Eng- 
land were  laid.     The  Roman  troops  had  been  withdrawn 


226 


MEDIMVAL  HISTORY. 


from  the  province  of  Britain  about  half  a  century  before  the 
downfall  of    Rome,  and  the  Britons,  who  belonged  to  the 


THEORIGIMALHOME 
OFTHE  ENGLISH 


Celtic  race,  were  left  to  shift  for  themselves.  About  the 
middle  of  the  5th  century  various  Teutonic  tribes  belonging 
to  the  Low-German  stock,  and  coming  from  the  old  Low- 
German  lands  by  the  Elbe  and  the  Weser,  invaded  Britain 
and  won  for  themselves  new  homes  there.  They  knew 
nothing  and  cared  nothing  for  the  language  or  arts  of 
Rome,  and  they  did  not,  like  the  Franks  and  Goths,  adopt 
the  language  and  religion  of  the  Romans.  These  swept 
everything  before  them,  and  the  native  Celtic  Britons  were 
killed,  enslaved,  or  driven  to  the  mountain  regions  of  Wales 
and  North  Britain. 

39.  Among  these  Low-German  invaders  there  were  three 
The  three  main  tribes,  —  the  Angles,  Saxons,  and  Ju^es, 
tribes.  "Y\i^  name  jfuie  has  left  no  memorial  in  Eng- 

land ;  but  the  English  people  are  still  often  spoken  of  as 
belonging  to  the  Saxon  race,  while  the  speech  which 
arose  in  the  island  from  the  intermixture  of  the  various 
German  dialects  took  the  name  of  Anglo-Saxon,  and  Brit- 
ain changed  its  name  to  England,  or  the  land  of  the  Angles. 


RISE   OF   THE  SARACENS. 


227 


40.  The  German  immigrations  to  England  went  on  from 
the  middle  of  the  5th  to  the  close  of  the  6th  Growth  of 
century ;  so  that  in  little  more  than  a  hundred  England, 
years  the  greater  part  of  that  land  which  had  been  the  Ro- 
man and  Christian  province  of  Britain  had  become  the 
heathen  land  of  the  Angles  and  Saxons.  In  the  course  of 
the  following  century  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  Christianized 
by  Roman  missionaries.  Various  little  kingdoms  were 
formed,  and  wars  were  waged,  —  wars  that,  as  Milton  says, 
are  of  no  more  importance  than  "  the  battle  of  kites  and 
crows,"  —  till  finally,  early  in  the  9th  century,  under  Egbert, 
who  was  a  contemporary  and  friend  of  Charlemagne,  the 
various  petty  dominions  were  united  in  the  one  kingdom  of 
England. 


5.     RISE   OF   THE    SARACENS. 

41.    We  now  come  to  a  remarkable  chapter  in  European 
history,  —  the  invasion  of  Europe,  the  land  of 

1         »  i_  o        •  •  1        r    11  Subject. 

the  Aryans,  by  a  Semitic  race,  the  followers 

of  the  famous  Moham'med.  Con- 
nected with  this  is  the  rise  of  a  new 
religion  and  of  a  vast  dominion  that 
played  a  great  part  in  the  history  of 
the  Middle  Ages. 

42.  Ma'homet,  or  Mohammed,  was 
born  at  the  sacred  city  Mohammed's 
of  Mecca,  in  Arabia,  in  ^^■''y  "f=- 
the  year  570  or  571.  Till  the  age  of 
forty  he  lived  without  exciting  much 
remark,  and  was  known  only  as  an 
able,  rich,  and  enterprising  merchant, 
honorable  in  his  dealings,  and  strictly 
truthful  in  all  that  he  said.  He  could 
neither  read  nor  write  ;  but  his  mer- 
cantile journeys  to  various  parts  of  the  peninsula,  as  well  as 


Mahometan  Emblems. 


228  MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 


to  Syria  and  Palestine,  had  enlarged  his  store  of  informa- 
tion. In  his  frequent  retirements  to  a  mountain  cave  for 
secret  thought  and  study,  he  developed  a  religious  system 
of  his  own.  He  one  day,  at  a  meeting  of  his  kinsmen,  made 
the  startling  announcement  that  he  had  received  a  Divine 
commission  to  reform  the  faith  and  practice  of  the  whole 
Arabian  nation.  He  taught  that  though  both  the  Jewish 
and  the  Christian  religions  were  sent  from  God,  yet  he  had 
himself  received  a  more  perfect  one  than  either.  He  now 
called  upon  all  his  friends  and  kinsmen  to  acknowledge  his 
authority,  forsake  their  idols,  and  worship  the  one  only  true 
God. 

43.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  his  own  country 
His  system ;  Mohammcd  was  a  great  reformer,  that  he  gave 
its  value.  j^jg  countr^'men  a  far  more  rational  religion 
than  they  had  been  practicing,  and  that  in  the  furnace  blast 
of  religious  enthusiasm  the  scattered  Arab  tribes  were  fused 
into  one  nation.  The  doctrines  of  Mohammed,  written  down 
from  time  to  time,  received  the  name  of  the  Korafi,  —  that  is, 
the  "  Reading  "  ;  and  the  religion  itself  v/as  called  Islam,  — 
that  is,  "  Salvation." 

44.  His  wife  and  a  few  other  immediate  relatives  were 

the  prophet's  first  disciples,  and  these  did  not 

Hegira.  . 

mcrease  very  rapidly.  The  people  of  Mecca 
denounced  him  as  a  madman  or  an  impostor,  and  in  a  little 
time  he  was  forced  to  flee  from  Mecca  to  save  his  life.  He 
betook  himself,  with  his  disciples,  to  what  is  now  Medi'na. 
The  date  of  this  flight,  or  Hegi'ra,  as  the  Arabians  call  it, 
—  July  15,  622  A.  D.,  —  has  been  adopted  ever  since  as  the 
chronological  era  in  Mohammedan  countries.  At  Medina 
he  was  receiv^ed  with  open  arms,  —  his  doctrines  having 
already  made  a  number  of  converts  in  that  place  ;  and  here 
he  built  his  first  mosque. 

45.  A  complete  change  now  came  over  Mohammed.  — 
the  dreamer  became  a  red-handed  soldier.     "  The  sword  " 


RISE   OF   THE  SARACENS.  229 


cned  he,  "  is  the  key  of  heaven  and  hell " ;  and  by  the 
sword  Islam  was  to  be  forced  upon  all  men.  Koran  and 
Tribe  after  tribe  was  subdued  ;  and  before  the  ^'^°^^- 
lapse  of  ten  years  the  whole  peninsula  acknowledged  the 
sovereignty  of  Mohammed,  and  could  boast  of  an  unmixed 
population  of  Mos'lems,  or  True  Believers,  The  prophet 
was  preparing  to  carry  the  new  religion  beyond  the  bounds 
of  Arabia,  when  he  was  cut  off  by  a  fever  at  Medina  in 
A.  D.  632. 

46.  Mohammed  was  succeeded  in  his  power  by  rulers 
called  his  Ca'Iiphs,  or  Successors,  the  first  of  conquests  of 
whom  was  his  father-in-law,  Abu-beker.  They  *^^  Caiiphs. 
were  at  once  spiritual  and  temporal  rulers.  The  proselyting 
spirit  of  Mohammed  had  been  communicated  to  his  suc- 
cessors, and  they  began  a  long  series  of  invasions,  wars,  and 
conquests.  They  everywhere  gave  men  the  choice  of  three 
things,  —  Koran,  tribute,  or  sword.  By  these  means  the  re- 
ligion of  Mohammed  was  spread  over  a  large  part  of  Asia 
and  Africa,  and  we  shall  presently  see  that  it  made  its  way 
into  Europe  also. 

47.  The  first  countries  assailed  were  the  Oriental  posses- 
sions of  the  Byzantine  Empire.  In  the  reign  of 
Abu-beker,  Syria  and  Mesopotamia  were  sub- 
dued by  Arabian  armies.  Under  the  next  caliph,  Omar, 
Egypt  was  conquered  and  Northern  Africa  overrun.  In  the 
course  of  their  Egyptian  conquests  the  victorious  Moslems 
are  charged  with  having  burned  the  great  Alexandrian 
Library  ;  but  recent  writers  say  it  must  have  been  destroyed 
long  before  Mohammed's  day.  The  Arabs,  or  Saracens,  as 
they  were  also  called,  met  with  comparatively  little  resist- 
ance in  the  Oriental  countries,  the  countries  beyond  Mount 
Tau'rus;  and  this  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
these  were  the  parts  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  which  both 
Roman  law  and  Christianity  had  taken  least  hold.  Thus 
the  Eastern  Empire  was  shorn  of  all  its  Oriental  posses- 


230  MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 


sions  ;  and  even  the  farther  East  —  Persia  and  the  lands 
beyond,  to  India  —  was  added  to  the  Moslem  dominion. 

48.  In  the  West,  however,   a  stout  resistance  was  en- 

countered.    The  Saracens  besieged  Constanti- 

In  the  West.  ,  .  ,  .    ,       ,  •     f 

nople,  agamst  which  they  carried  on  a  siege  of 
eight  years  (a.  d.  668-675)  ;  but  every  assault  was  repelled 
by  torrents  of  terrible  Greek  fire.  A  second  siege,  forty 
years  afterwards,  met  a  like  result.  In  North  Africa,  too, 
they  encountered  long  and  obstinate  resistance ;  but  finally 
the  whole  northern  coast — Cyre'ne,  Trip'oli,  Carthage — 
was  subdued;  and  in  A.  d.  710  a  host  of  turbaned  Arabs, 
with  unsheathed  scimitars,  under  Tarik-ben-Zaid,  crossed  the 
narrow  strait  into  Spain,  and  landed  on  the  rock  which 
commemorates  the  name  of  their  leader  ("  Gibral'tar,"  i.  e. 
yebel  Tarik,  the  Mountain  of  Tarik). 

49.  It  will  be  remembered   that  a  Visigothic  kingdom 

had  been  established  in  Spain  ;  but  Rod'erick, 
the  "  last  of  the  Goths,"  was  defeated  on  the 
field  of  Xeres,  and  the  Saracens  established  themselves 
firmly  in  Spain.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  they  had  pos- 
session of  the  whole  peninsula,  with  the  exception  of  the 
mountainous  districts  in  the  north,  where  the  little  Christian 
kingdom  of  the  Astu'rias  maintained  itself. 

50.  The  ambition  of  the  Saracens  now  overleaped  the 
Saracenic  ag-  Pyrenees.  They  obtained  a  lodgement  in 
gression.  Southem  Gaul ;  and  after  a  time  an  able  Sara- 
cenic commander,  Abd-el-rahman,  led  a  powerful  Moham- 
medan army  northward  to  subdue  the  land  of  the  Franks. 
As  far  as  the  Loire  ever^'thing  fell  before  him,  and  it  seemed 
that  all  Europe  would  come  under  Moslem  sway. 

51.  It  was  in  the  hour  of  need  that  Charles  Martel  ap- 

peared as  a  champion  for  Christendom.    Gath 

Their  defeat.       ^    .  .    ,  .  ,      i        n 

ering  a  powerful  army,  he  met  the  Saracens 
between  Tours  and  Poitiers  \_ptva/-yea'\  A  desperate  bat- 
tle, which  lasted  for  seven  days,  ensued  ;  but  on  the  seventh 


RISE   OF  THE  SARACENS.  23 1 


day  the  Saracens  were  defeated  with  great  slaughter,  a.  d. 
732.  This  victory  arrested  forever  the  progress  of  the 
Mohammedan  arms  in  Europe,  and  procured  for  Charles 
the  expressive  surname  of  "  the  Hammer  "  (Martel),  by 
which  he  is  known  in  history. 

52.  While  the  Saracens  were  stopped  from  pushing  their 
conquests    farther    into    Europe,    they   firmly   Foothold  in 
established  themselves  in   Spain,  where  they   ^pam. 
founded  a  kingdom  that  lasted  for  seven  hundred  years,  — 
that  is,  till  the  very  close  of  tlie  Middle  Ages. 

53.  For  a  short  time  the  vast  dominion  which  the  Sara- 
cens   had    conquered    held    together,    and    a   Division  of 

1  r    I  u         J      •        c       •  A     •        Saracenic   em- 

smgle   caliph   was   obeyed    in   Spain    and    in  pire. 
India.     But  soon  disputes  arose  as  to  the  right  of  succes- 
sion to  the  caliphate :  wars  and  secessions  took  place,  and 
in  A.  D.  755  the  Saracenic  empire  was  divided,  —  one  caliph 
reigning  in  Spain  and  another  in  Bag'dad. 

54.  In  the  East,  the  most  distinguished  of  the  Saracenic 
rulers  was  Haroun-al-Raschid  (Aaron  the  Events  in  the 
Just),    who    became  caliph   in  A.  D.    786,  and    ^^^*- 

was  a  contemporary  of  Charlemagne.  In  the  Arabian 
Nights  we  find  a  vivid  picture  of  the  city  he  ruled  and  the 
life  he  led.  After  the  death  of  Haroun,  the  Eastern 
dominion  of  the  Saracens  was  rent  by  civil  strife  ;  one 
province  after  another  broke  off  from  the  caliphate,  till  in 
the  nth  and  12th  centuries  it  fell  a  prey  to  the  Turks. 

55.  In  Spain,  on  the  division  of  the  Saracenic  power^ 
the    rule  was  in    the  hands  of  the  Ommi'yad 

In  the  ^^est. 

line,  and  the  capital  was  at  Cor'dova.     From 
this  city  the  scepter  of  the  Ommi'yades  ruled  during  283 
years  (from  a.  d.  755-1038);  but  in  the  nth  century  the 
supremacy  of  the  Saracens  gave  place  to  the  Moorish  empire 
in  Spain. 

56.  In  the  intellectual  history  of  the  MidJle  Ages  the 
Saracens  played   a  remarkable   part     When   Europe  was 


232 


MEDIMVAL  HISTORY. 


sunk  in  the  grossest  ignorance,  this  clever  people  were 
Saracenic  actively  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  science, 

learning.  learning,  and  the  arts.     The  schools  of  Cordova 

vied  with  those  of  Bagdad  in  the  collection  of  books  and 
the  encouragement  of  science,  and  from  them  proceeded 
nearly  all  that  was  original  in  the  medicine,  physics,  and 
metaphysics  of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages. 

For  additional  details  see  chapter  on 
Ages,"  page  282. 


'Civilization  in  the   Middle 


Spain. 


ANALYTIC    SYNOPSIS    FOR    REVIEW. 


A  Visigothic  kingdom  founded  here  just  before  the 
downfall  of  Rome, — first  of  the  new  kingdoms,  —  lasts 
for  three  centuries,  till  overthrown  by  the  Saracens  in 
.  the  first  half  of  the  8th  century. 


The  Franks.. 


England , 


Italy 


The  foundations  of  the  Prankish  kingdom  laid  by 
Clovis,  beginning  of  the  6th  century,  —  Merovingian 
dynasty  continues  for  about  a  century, — superseded  by 
Pepin,  son  of  Charles  Martel  and  father  of  Charle- 
magne, who  becomes  king  of  the  Franks  about  the 
middle  of  the  8th  century. 

Invasion  of  Celtic  Britain  by  Low-German  tribes, 
Angles,  Saxons,  etc.,  just  before  the  downfall  of  Rome, 
—  formation  of  various  petty  kingdoms,  —  all  become 
practically  united  as  England,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
9th  century,  under  Egbert. 

The  first  barbarian  kingdom  of  the  Visigoths  under 
Odoacer  established  A.  D.  476,  —  overthrown  in  less  than 
twenty  years  by  the  Ostrogoths  under  Theodoric, — 
Ostrogothic  kingdom  lasts  sixty  years,  —  then  over- 
thrown by  the  Eastern  empire,  and  ruicd  by  a  Byzantine 
Exarch,  —  the  Lombards  take  possession  of  all  North- 
ern Italy,  —  and  the  Lombard  kings  and  the  Byzantine 
.£xarcbs  rule  Italy  till  the  time  of  Charlemagne. 


EMPIRE   OF  CHARLEMAGNE. 


233 


r      L      A      N      T      / 


234 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY. 


CHAPTER     III 


EMPIRE    OF    CHARLEMAGNE, 


57.  An  interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Middle 
Subject  treated  Agcs  is  HOW  before  US.  We  are  to  see  how 
°^-  the  ruins  of  the  dilapidated  Western  Empire 
were  for  a  time  rebuilt  into 
an  imposing  structure  by  the 
genius  of  a  great  man,  the 
grandest  figure  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  —  Charlemagne. 

58.  Charlemagne    was    the 

Charlemagne's    SOn  of   Pepin,  the 

'^'''■^-  first  of  the  Carlo- 

vingian  monarchs,  —  that  Pe- 
pin who  shut  up  the  imbecile 
puppet-king  of  the  Merovin- 
gian line  and  assumed  the  sovereignty  of  the  Franks.  He 
was  born  about  a.  d.  742.  The  real  name  of  this  great 
man  was  Karl,  that  is,  Charles.  Though  best  known  by  his 
French  name  of  Charlemagne  (Charles  the  Great),  we  must 
remember  that  he  was  no  Frenchman  in  our  sense  of  the 
term,  but  a  thorough  Teuton  in  birth,  instinct,  speech,  and 
residence. 

59.  The  kingdom  of  the  Franks,  to  which  Charlemagne 
Prankish  king-  f^'^  ^^i^  OH  the  death  of  his  father,  formed  an 
'^°™-  extensive  dominion  comprising  portions  of  the 
two  countries  we  now  call  France  and  Germany,  —  for  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  specific  countries,  France  and 
Germany,  did  not  yet  exist  at  all. 

60.  At  this  time  —  the  latter  half  of  the  8th  centur}'  — 
Italy  was  divided  between  the  Lombards  and  the  Eastern 


EMPIRE   OF  CHARLEMAGNE.  23:J 

emperors,  England  had  come  into  existence,  but  only  as  a 
number  of  feeble  and  warring  states,  Spain  was  contemporary 
under  the  rule  of  the  Moslems.  events. 

61.  In  the  mean  time  the  land  of  the  Franks  was  lifting 
itself  from  out  the  surrounding  barbarism  of  situation  of 
the  new  races,  and  was  the  center  of  that  ^*^^  Franks. 
Teutonic  civilization  which  was  struggling  into  existence. 
It  is  important  to  bear  in  mind  the  actual  condition  of  the 
European  world  at  the  time  Charlemagne  came  on  the 
stage,  for  it  will  help  us  to  understand  the  work  he  did, 
how  far  he  succeeded  and  how  far  he  failed. 

62.  The  ruling  idea  of  Charlemagne  was  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  Roman  Empire,  —  the  building  up  Charlemagne's 
on  German  soil  of  that  Colossus  which  had  «^esign. 
toppled  over  because  it  rested  on  the  too  narrow  basis  of 
Latin  nationality.  In  executing  this  design  he  aimed  to 
use  all  the  elements  of  civilization  that  the  times  presented, 
and  especially  these  two  great  elements,  —  the  political  ideas 
and  instincts  of  the  Teutons,  and  the  adhesive  power  of 
the  Christian  Church.  Hence  we  find  him,  throughout  his 
whole  career,  carefully  cherishing  all  those  old  German 
institutions  upon  which  the  mass  of  his  people  looked  with 
deep  reverence,  while  at  the  same  time  we  behold  him  the 
protector  of  the  Pope  and  the  loyal  and  ardent  champion 
of  the  Church. 

63.  It  was  in  the  effort  to  realize  his  grand  idea  that 
Charlemagne   undertook   the    numerous   wars   object  of  his 
and  expeditions  that  filled  the  forty-six  years   w^"- 

of  his  reign.  We  shall  not  enter  into  the  details  of  these 
wars ;  but  it  is  needful  to  understand  their  object  and  their 
result. 

64.  The  most  important  of  Charlemagne's  military  en- 
terprises were  directed  against  the  fierce  pagan 

nations  of  Germany  and  the  wild    Scythians 

in  the  outlying  lands  beyond.     To  appreciate  the  impor- 


236  MEDIMVAL   HISTORY. 

tance  of  these  we  must  try  to  realize  that  the  eastern  fron- 
tier of  the  Frankish  land,  that  is,  the  eastern  boundary  of 
Charlemagne's  kingdom,  on  the  German  side  of  the  Rhine, 
ran  into  and  abutted  on  the  extensive  stretch  of  country  in 
Middle  Europe  that  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  various  un- 
civilized tribes.  As  long  as  these  nationalities  remained  in 
their  warlike,  savage,  and  pagan  condition,  they  would  press 
heavily  on  the  struggling  civilization  of  the  Frankish  king- 
dom, and  would  endanger,  if  not  utterly  destroy,  its  progress. 
Hence  to  subdue  and  especially  to  Christianize  these  tribes 
—  to  extend  the  domain  of  organized  and  law-governed  so- 
ciety into  the  desert  waste  of  Teutonic  barbarism  —  was 
a  main  object  with  Charlemagne. 

65.  With  the  Saxon  confederation,  formed  by  various 
Wars  with  pagan  tribes  on  the  Weser  and  the  Elbe  (the 
the  Saxons.  same  tribes  from  among  which  the  Saxons 
and  Angles,  who  conquered  Britain  three  centuries  before 
this,  had  gone  forth),  Charlemagne  had  the  greatest  trouble. 
He  repeatedly  marched  into  their  country  and  subdued 
them ;  but  they  constantly  rose  up  again,  and  it  was  only 
after  some  terrible  acts  of  vengeance,  —  for  example,  he  one 
day  had  4200  prisoners  hanged,  —  that  they  at  length  sub- 
mitted to  be  baptized  and  to  become  peaceable  subjects. 

66.  Soon  after  this  the  Bava'rians  attempted  to  render 
Eastern  con-  thcmselves  independent  of  the  Frankish  pow- 
quests.  gj.  ^y  ^]^g  assistance  of  the  Avars,  a  Tartar  race 
living  in  what  we  now  call  Hungar}^  (then  Panne/ tiia).  Char- 
lemagne overpowered  the  Bavarians,  incorporating  Bavaria 
with  his  German  territory;  and  he  then  revenged  himself 
on  the  Avars  by  conquering  them,  taking  their  treasures, 
and  annexing  Hungary  to  his  dominion.  The  result  of 
Charlemagne's  conquests  on  the  east  side  of  the  Rhine  was 
that  Germany  was  for  the  first  time  all  united  under  one 
head,  and  on  that  side  the  Frankish  kingdom  was  extended 
to  the  confluence  of  the  Danube  vidth  the  Theiss  and  the 
Save, 


EMPIRE   OF  CHARLEMAGNE.  237 

67.  Against  the  Saracens  in  Spain  Charlemagne  made 
an  important  expedition.     The  capture  of  Sar- 

agos'sa  laid  Ar'agon  and  Navarre'  at  his  feet, 
and  he  united  the  whole  country  as  far  as  the  Ebro  to  his 
own  kingdom  as  a  Spanish  province.  During  his  return 
the  rear-guard,  under  Roland,  suffered  a  defeat  in  the  valley 
of  Roncesval'les,  in  which  the  bravest  champions  of  the 
Franks  were  destroyed.  This  somewhat  tarnished  the  lau- 
rels Charlemagne  had  won  in  Spain,  but  did  not  undo  the 
substantial  results  of  the  campaign. 

68.  We  must  now  see  what  Charlemagne  did  in  Italy. 
At  this  period  the  Lombards  were  very  trouble- 
some to  the  Pope,  and  frequently  assailed  the  ^  ^' 
Roman  territory.  Accordingly,  when  Pope  Adrian  I.  called 
on  Charlemagne  for  aid,  the  Prankish  monarch  crossed  the 
Alps,  defeated  the  Lombards,  shut  up  their  king  in  a  mon- 
astery, and  himself  assuming  the  famous  "  iron  crown  "  of 
Lombardy,  united  the  whole  of  Upper  Italy  to  the  kingdom 
of  the  Franks  (a.  d.  773).  At  the  same  time  he  confirmed 
the  gifts  made  by  Pepin  to  the  Pope. 

69.  The  general  result  of  all  the  wars  and  conquests 
which  we  have  described  was  that  by  the  year  Extent  of 

.  .       ,     /       •     Charlemagne  s 

800  Charlemagne,  who  had  mherited  from  dominion. 
Pepin  a  kingdom  scarcely  equal  to  all  Gaul,  found  himself 
lord  of  a  dominion  as  large  as  the  ancient  Roman  Empire 
of  the  West,  and  extending  from  the  Ebro  (in  Spain)  on  the 
west  to  the  Elbe  in  the  northeast,  the  Theiss  (Hungary)  in 
the  southeast,  and  including  half  of  Italy,  with  Corsica,  Sar- 
dinia, and  the  Bal'earic  Isles.  He  fell  heir  to  ^kingdom; 
he  was  now  master  of  an  empire. 

70.  The  year  a.  d.  800  forms  the  climax  of  Charle- 
magne's reign.  The  sovereign  had  gone  in  crowned  em- 
splendid  state  to  visit   Italy.     On   Christmas   p^''°''- 

day  Charlemagne  and  his  court  were  attending  divine  ser- 
vice in  the  church  of  St  Peter's,  at  Rome.     Suddenly,  while 


2^8  MEDIAEVAL   HISTORY. 

the  monarch  was  kneeling  ^n  the  steps  of  the  altar  in 
prayer,  the  Pope,  Leo  III.,  placed  a  crown  upon  his  head 
and  solemnly  saluted  him  as  "  Emperor  of  the  West,"  with 
the  title  of  Charles  I.,  C^sar  Augustus. 

71.  The  latter  years  of  Charlemagne's  life  were  spent  in 
Charieraagne's  labors  for  the  Consolidation  of  his  empire  and 
energy.  j-j^g  elcvation  of  his  people.  In  activity,  in  a 
craving  desire  to  be  ever  doing  something,  Charlemagne 
resembled  Napoleon.  From  the  affairs  of  his  own  house- 
hold to  the  state  of  the  markets,  and  even  to  the  mon- 
asteries in  the  most  distant  parts  of  his  empire,  he  made 
himself  acquainted  with  everything;  and  he  wearied  out 
all  about  him  by  his  astonishing  powers  of  invention  and 
labor  and  the  amount  of  work  he  exacted  from  them. 

72.  Charlemagne  was  a  great   patron  of  learning  and 

learned  men.  He  was  himself  a  good  Latin 
ip.  g(,|-,Qi^j-^  ^j^(j  j^e  knew  something  of  Greek. 
Wherever  he  was  he  was  usually  surrounded  by  learned 
churchmen,  whom  he  drew  to  his  court  from  all  quarters, 
and  with  whom  he  delighted  to  hold  conversations  on  liter- 
ary and  other  subjects.  The  emperor,  his  family,  and  all 
attached  to  his  household  formed  what  was  called  the 
"  School  of  the  Palace."  Fond  of  literary  pursuits,  Charle- 
magne studied  grammar,  rhetoric,  music,  logic,  astronomy, 
and  natural  history  under  his  learned  friends  ;  and  even 
after  he  was  considerably  advanced  in  years  he  took  the 
pains  to  acquire  the  art  of  writing,  —  an  accomplishment 
then  very  unusual  except  among  churchmen. 

73.  Nor  was  the  emperor's  interest  in  education  confined 
Education  of  to  his  own  houschold.  Each  of  the  numer- 
the  people.  q^^  monasteries  that  he  endowed  was  bound  to 
maintain  a  school.  He  had  copies  of  the  writings  of  the 
ancient  Romans  made  and  distributed  among  the  convents, 
he  formed  a  collection  of  old  German  heroic  ballads,  and 
under  his  patronage  church  music  was  greatly  improved. 


EMPIRE   OF  CHARLEMAGNE.  239 

74.  Physically  Charlemagne  was  of  heroic  stature  and 
majestic  appearance.  In  his  habits  he  was  person  and 
plain  and  unostentatious.  He  dined  off  four  habits, 
dishes,  and  was  very  fond  of  roast  venison,  newly  killed  and 
served  up  to  him  on  the  spit.  He  hated  drunkenness.  At 
table,  books  of  history  and  Augustine's  "  City  of  God  "  were 
often  read  aloud  to  him.  His  love  for  the  national  Prank- 
ish dress  was  so  strong  that  he  never,  save  on  a  few  great 
occasions  of  state,  exchanged  it  for  the  Roman  garb. 

75-  Charlemagne's  favorite  place  of  residence  was  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle'  (in  German,  Aa'cheii).  He 
made  this  the  northern  capital  of  his  empire, 
as  Rome  was  the  southern,  and  built  a  magnificent  palace 
there.  When  his  power  was  confirmed  by  his  coronation 
as  Emperor  of  the  West,  all  the  world  hastened  to  pay  him 
homage.  The  Saracenic  caliph,  the  famous  Haroun-al-Ras- 
chid,  who  ruled  the  Eastern  dominion  of  the  Saracens,  at 
Bagdad,  exchanged  courtesies  with  his  great  brother  of  the 
West,  sending  him,  among  other  presents,  an  ape,  an  ele- 
phant, and  a  curious  clock  which  struck  the  hours. 

76.  Charlemagne  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-two,  at  Aix- 
la-Chapelle,  in  A.  D.  814.  The  year  before,  he  had  caused  his 
only  living  son,  Louis,  to  assume  the  imperial  End  of  his 
crown.  But  the  vast  structure  that  Charle-  empire, 
magne  had  raised  during  his  lifetime  tottered  and  fell  almost 
immediately  after  his  death.  Louis,  known  as  the  Gentle 
{li  Debonnaire),  was  better  fitted  for  the  repose  of  a  clois- 
ter than  for  the  government  of  a  warlike  kingdom.  His 
sons,  among  whom  he  divided  the  empire,  turned  their  arms 
first  against  himself  and  then  against  one  another.  Finally, 
in  A.  D.  843,  a  treaty  was  made  at  Verdun',  by  which  France, 
Germany,  and  Italy  became  separate  and  independent 
states  ;  so  that,  in  less  than  thirty  years  after  the  death  of 
Charlemagne,  the  history  of  the  Franks  came  to  an  end, 
and  the  history  of  France  and  of  Germany  began. 


240 


MEDIAEVAL   HISTORY. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE     FEUDAL     SYSTEM. 

77.  The  aim  of  this  chapter,  and  of  the  succeeding  four 
Programme  of  chapters,  is  to  present  a  general  view  of  the 
topics.  Middle  Ages,  —  of  those  great  historic  facts 

common  to  all  the  nations  of  Europe  during  that  epoch. 


Feudal  Castle 

Thus,  all  the  nations  of  Europe  were  under  that  peculiar 
form  of  society  called  feudalism  (and  this  will  be  treated 
of  in  the  present  chapter) ;  all  bore  certain  relations  to  the 
Papal  Power  (the  subject-matter  of  the  next  chapter)  ;  all 
participated  in  the  Crusades  and  in  the  spirit  of  Chivalry 
(the  subject-matter  of  Chapters  VI.  and  VII.);  and  all 
passed  through  the  period  named  the  Dark  Ages,  and 
shared  in  the  intellectual  revival  which  marked  the  latter 
part  of  the  Middle  Ages  (described  in  Chapter  VIII.). 


THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  24I 

78.  The  most  marked  feature  of  society  in  the  Middle 
Ages  was  Feudalism,  or  the  Feudal  System.  General  state- 
This  system  sprang  out  of  the  peculiar  relations   '"^"'^• 

of  man  to  man  among  the  various  Teutonic  tribes  who  ob- 
tained possession  of  the  countries  that  had  formed  the  West- 
ern Empire;  by  the  iitii  century  it  had  spread  into  all  the 
lands  to  which  the  German  conquests  extended  ;  it  con- 
tinued throughout  the  whole  Middle  Ages,  and  it  passed 
away  only  with  that  extensive  series  of  changes  that  marked 
the  advent  of  modern  history  proper. 

79.  Every  free  German  who  had  helped  his  chief  in  con- 
quering the  country  received  as  his  share  of  the  origin  of  the 
spoil  a  particular  estate,  which  was  called  his  system. 
allodium^  or  freehold,  —  this  estate  being  absolutely  his  own 
property.  The  chief  or  king,  as  a  matter  of  course,  received 
a  very  large  domain  as  his  share.  Now,  after  a  time,  it  be- 
came usual  for  him  to  grant  portions  of  this  his  own  domain 
to  his  followers  and  favorites,  on  condition  of  their  being 
faithful  to  him  and  doing  him  service  in  war.  The  land  so 
granted  was  called  a  feudum,  or  Jief,  and  land  held  in  this 
way  was  said  to  be  held  by  7i  feudal  tenure.  This  "  tenure," 
or  way  of  holding,  was  totally  unlike  the  property  that  was 
allodial,  or  allotted.  The  latter  was  a  man's  very  own  ; 
while  land  held  by  the  feudal  tenure  was  not  the  soldier's 
property  by  right,  but  was  retained  only  during  the  pleasure 
of  the  real  owner,  and  so  long  as  the  conditions  agreed  on 
were  lived  up  to.  The  real  owner  was  the  lord,  suzerain,  or 
liege,  while  the  person  to  whom  he  granted  the  land  was 
called  his  vassal,  liegeman,  or  retainer. 

80.  Just  as  the  kings  made  these  feudal  grants  to  their 
favorites,  so  the  holders  of  extensive  allods  Growth  of  the 
(that  is,  grants  made  to  them  from  the  first  as  system, 
absolutely  their  own)  gave  away  portions  of  these  to  the  less 
wealthy,  to  be  held  by  feudal  tenure,  and  thus  obtained 
liegemen  or  vassals  of  their  own.     Bishops  and  abbots  also 

II  P 


242  MED/AlVAL   history. 

gave  grants  of  extensive  tracts  received  from  the  kings  to 
knights,  who  held  these  lands  as  vassals  of  the  bishops  and 
abbots,  —  that  is,  they  were  bound  to  defend  the  monastery 
and  supply  a  certain  number  of  troops  when  the  king  made 
a  general  levy. 

81.  The  usual  tenure  by  which  vassals  held  their  fiefs 
Duties  of  a  was  that  of  military  service  and  homage,  —  in 
hegeman.  other  words,  the  proprietors  who  held  fiefs  from 
the  king  were  bound  to  attend  his  court  on  occasions  of 
ceremony,  and  to  assist  him,  in  case  of  war,  with  a  certain 
number  of  men  ;  and  the  smaller  proprietors,  who  held  fiefs 
under  great  lords,  were  in  like  manner  bound  to  appear  at 
the  castles  of  their  lords,  when  summoned,  and  to  render 
them  military  service.  The  lord,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
bound  to  protect  his  vassals. 

82.  It  soon  happened  that  the  feudal  tenure  of  property 
Feudalism  prevailed  over  every  other.  The  great  nobles 
universal.  were  but  too  glad  to  become  vassals  of  the 
kings,  in  return  for  the  rich  gifts  which  they  had  to  bestow ; 
so  also  the  holder  of  a  small  allod,  or  freehold,  would  often, 
of  his  own  accord,  give  it  up  to  a  powerful  lord  in  his  neigh- 
borhood, whose  protection  he  wished  to  secure,  receiving  it 
back  from  him  as  a  fief.  Gradually,  therefore,  almost  the 
whole  property  of  a  country  became  a  connected  system  of 
fiefs  ;  and  society,  from  the  king  down  to  the  poorest  free- 
man, consisted  of  a  chain  of  ranks,  each  retaining  from  that 
above  it.  Kings  themselves  were  vassals  of  other  kings  for 
estates  lying  out  of  the  boundaries  of  their  own  sovereignty. 
Thus  William  the  Conqueror,  monarch  of  England,  was,  as 
Duke  of  Normandy,  a  vassal  of  the  king  of  France. 

83.  To  understand  the  practical  operation  of  the  feudal 
Illustration  systcm,  it  is  best  to  fancy  what  took  place  in  a 
from  war.  country  about  to  undertake  a  war.  The  king 
summoned  his  vassals,  or  retainers,  to  appear  in  the  field  at 
a  certain  time,  with  a  certain  military  retinue  ;  these  vassals. 


THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  243 

generally  the  chief  nobles  of  the  kingdom,  made  a  similar 
claim  upon  their  retainers  or  liegemen,  the  smaller  proprie- 
tors ;  and  they,  in  their  turn,  summoned  the  farmers  and 
yeomen  who  stood  to  them  in  the  relation  of  feudal  obe- 
dience. The  army  thus  consisted  of  bands  of  freemen,  each 
armed  at  his  own  cost,  or  at  the  cost  of  his  feudal  superior, 
and  each  following  the  banner  of  his  chief. 

84.  We  have  thus  far  been  considering  the  holders  of 
land ;  but  in  feudal  society  the  great  mass  of 

the  people  were  not  freeholders  at  all,  but 
serfs.  The  serfs  were  not  actual  slaves ;  that  is  to  say,  they 
could  not  be  bought  and  sold  man  by  man  ;  but  they  were 
bound  to  the  land,  and  passed  with  it  when  //  changed 
hands.  In  addition  to  the  serfs  there  were  also  actual 
slaves,  —  those  who  became  slaves  by  being  made  prisoners 
of  war  or  by  being  condemned  to  slavery  for  some  crime. 

85.  A  fief  consisted  properly  of  two  things,  —  the  castle 
in  which  the  lord,  or  proprietor,  lived  with  his  Nature  of  a 
family  and  men-at-arms ;  and  the  village,  or  '^^'^• 
attached  domain,  inhabited  by  the  tillers  of  the  soil.  These 
were  either  villains  (inhabitants  of  the  ville  or  village),  who 
were  freeborn  men  renting  land  or  serving  for  wages,  or 
serfs,  who  were  the  born  thralls  of  the  lord  of  the  soil. 

86.  Feudalism  had  spread  into  all  the  lands  conquered 
by  the  Teutonic  tribes  before  it  reached  Eng-  Th.;  system 
land ;  and  it  was  first  introduced  there  in  its  *"  England, 
perfection  by  William  of  Normandy,  when  he  conquered  the 
country  in  a.  d.  1066.  He,  as  conqueror,  claimed  the  right 
of  giving  estates  to  whomsoever  he  pleased,  on  condition 
of  receiving  in  return  military  service  and  aids  of  money. 

87.  As  the  Normans,  on  going  into  England,  entered  a 
conquered  country,  their  first  thought  was  to   Norman  cas- 
build  dwellings  for  safety ;  and  to  insure  this   *'^^- 

they  erected  strong  castles,  and  surrounded  them  with  thick 
walls  and  a  ditch.     These  buildings  usually  consisted  of 


244  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY. 

three  divisions,  namely,  the  inner  and  outer  courts,  and  the 
keep,  which  formed  the  baron's  residence.  The  entrance 
to  the  castle  was  guarded  by  the  barbacatt,  which  in  most 
cases  was  a  strong  gateway  in  front  of  the  main  gate. 
The  passage  through  the  gateway  could  be  closed,  in  addi' 
tion  to  the  gates,  by  a  spiked  iron  grating,  called  a  port-^ 
cullis,  which  was  let  down  from  above,  and  the  archway 
was  pierced  with  holes,  through  which  melted  lead  and  boil- 
ing pitch  could  be  poured  upon  an  enemy.  The  gray  ruins 
of  many  of  these  castles,  found  here  and  there  throughout 
England,  give  a  vivid  idea  of  the  massive  strength  of  the 
homes  of  the  nobility  in  the  feudal  times. 
\  88.  By  many  writers  feudalism  has  been  painted  in  ro- 
Eviis  of  feu-  niantic  colors ;  but,  in  spite  of  this  gilding,  it 
daiism.  jg  plain  that  the  system  was  a  bad  one.     The 

mass  of  the  people  had  no  guaranteed  rights,  they  were  at 
the  mercy  of  the  lords  ;  and  though  we  may  believe  that  un- 
der good  proprietors  the  condition  of  the  people  may  not 
have  been  invariably  or  necessarily  unhappy,  yet  that  sys- 
tem is  radically  vicious  which  makes  one  man  subject  to  the 
will  and  caprice  of  another.  Indeed,  it  is  certain  that  under 
this  system  there  were  monstrous  abuses.  The  feudal  bar- 
ons, withdrawn  within  their  gloomy  castles,  and  surrounded 
by  a  dependent  and  isolated  village  of  serfs  and  tenants, 
grievously  oppressed  the  people,  who  had  no  redress,  seeing 
that  the  nobles  were  the  magistrates  of  the  fief. 

89.  At  the  same  time  the  feudal  government  retarded 
Effect  on  the  the  growth  of  nationality.  Everything  tended 
nation.  ^q  isolation  ;  a  kingdom  was  a  cluster  of  con- 

federated powers  under  a  common  head ;  but  that  head, 
the  king  or  emperor,  lacked  real  power,  since,  though  the 
nobles  and  barons  owed  feudal  allegiance  to  the  suzerain, 
obedience,  when  refused,  could  be  enforced  only  by  war. 
In  fact,  the  system  was  a  reign,  not  of  law,  but  of  lattf 
lessness. 


THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM.  245 

"^    90.    The  three  influences  that  gradually  undermined  feu- 
ialism  were  :  i.  Royalty  ;  2.  The  Municipalities ;   Enemies  of 
3.  The  Clergy.     A  word  regarding  each.  feudalism. 

91.  The  increase  of  the  power  of  royalty  was  directly 
opposed  to  feudalism ;  for  just  in  proportion  influence  of 
as  the  central,  authority  was  strengthened,  the  ""oyaity- 
power  of  the  nobles  was  weakened.  At  the  outset,  in  the 
new  Teutonic  kingdoms  of  France,  Germany,  Italy,  Spain, 
and  England,  the  monarch  was  to  the  great  nobles  merely 
what  these  were  to  their  vassals,  —  the  head  of  a  system  of 
fiefs.  But  very  soon  the  monarchs  began  to  center  power 
in  themselves,  and  then  they  came  into  antagonism  with 
feudalism.  The  reason  of  this  was,  that,  being  head  of  the 
whole,  the  kings  were  the  first  to  be  inspired  with  the  idea 
of  7iatio7iality.  They  sought  to  pierce  down  through  the 
intermediate  ranks  of  barons,  counts,  etc.,  to  the  real  people 
themselves.  They  thus  to  some  extent  put  themselves  on 
the  side  of  the  lower  ranks.  At  the  same  time,  by  issuing 
decrees  to  be  put  in  force  over  the  whole  kingdom,  the 
throne  became  the  fountain  of  law,  as  something  distinct 
:^rom  the  mere  will  of  the  feudal  chiefs. 

92.  The  second  influence  mentioned  is  the  rise  of  the 
mtmicipalities.        Under    the    Roman    system 

ill  r  ,,  •'      .  Of  the  cities. 

there  had  been  numerous  free,  self-governmg 
cities  throughout  the  empire.  Many  of  these  survived  the 
shock  of  the  Teutonic  invasions,  and  formed  little  republics 
or  self-governing  communities  in  the  midst  of  the  feudal 
society.  Moreover,  feudalism  itself  gradually  created 
similar  communities.  In  the  turbulence  of  the  times,  popu- 
lation tended  to  crystallize  around  the  castles  of  feudal 
chiefs.  The  lords,  finding  themselves  greatly  strengthened 
by  this,  began  to  see  that  it  would  be  to  their  advantage 
to  grant  the  inhabitants  certain  privileges.  Hence  arose 
towns,  governed  by  officers  —  provosts  and  bailiffs  — 
appointed  by  the  lord,  and  the   still  more  highly  favored 


246  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY. 


boroughs,  —  that  is,  towns  possessing  regular  charters  which 
conceded  them  the  right  of  governing  themselves  by  magis- 
trates, such  as  mayors  and  aldermen,  chosen  by  the  burgh- 
ers, or  free  inhabitants.  These  towns  and  boroughs  were 
oases  of  freedom  amid  the  desert  of  feudal  despotism.  It 
was  here  that  there  arose  that  great  power  in  European 
society,  the  Commons,  or  free  middle  class,  that  in  the  end 
not  only  overthrew  feudalism,  but  tempered  the  despotism 
of  kings,  and  brought  about  limited,  represe7itative  monarchy. 

93.  The    Church,  in    its   efforts    to    establish    absolute 

dominion  in  matters  spiritual,  naturally  sought 
to  ally  itself  with  a  great  centralized  power. 
Hence  we  find  that  the  clergy  usually  sided  with  the  kings, 
and  against  the  nobles.  Moreover,  the  clergy  owned  more 
than  one  half  of  the  entire  landed  property  of  most  Euro- 
pean countries.  Finally,  the  humane  sentiments  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  doctrine  of  the  common  brotherhood  of  man, 
became  a  powerful  agency  in  checking  the  injustice  and 
the  arbitrary  power  of  the  feudal  lords. 

94.  Among  other  influences  that  co-operated  towards  the 
Other  influ-  destruction  of  feudalism,  were  the  Crusades, 
ences.  ^j^g  change  of  the  mode  of  war  following  the 
invention  of  gunpowder,  the  extension  of  commerce,  and  in 
general  the  progress  of  knowledge. 

95.  It  was  a  system  that  was  not  wholly  bad :  it  must 

have    been   in   some   desree   adapted   to   the 

Summing  up.        .  ...  ,  ,  i  •         1 

times,  otherwise  it  could  not  have  existed  at 
all ;  but  it  belonged  to  a  state  of  society  essentially  barba- 
rous, and  it  was  overthrown  by  that  very  civilization  which 
ic  could  not  keep  from  growing  up  in  its  very  midst. 


GROWTH  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER. 


247 


CH  AFTER   V. 


GROWTH     OF    THE    PAPAL    POWER. 


96.  The  steps  by  which  Christianity  became  the  religion 
of   the    Roman    Empire    have    already    been   subject 

traced.  We  must  treated  of. 
now  see  how  that  mighty  or- 
ganization, the  Latin  or  Cath- 
olic Church,  arose,  and  how  it 
became  a  great  power  above 
kings  and  emperors,  holding 
for  centuries  a  controlling  in- 
fluence over  the  political  affairs 
of  Europe.  Some  knowledge 
of  the  history  of  the  Papacy, 
as  this  dominion  of  the  Latin 
.Church  is  called,  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  a  comprehension 
of  the   Middle  Ages. 

97.  On  the  overthrow  of  the  Western  Empire  the  Bishop 
of  Rome,  as  the  first  personasre  in  what  had   Power  of  the 

'  .      ,        .     ,  ^  ,    °  .,        Bishop  of 

Deen  the  capital  of  the  world,  was  naturally  Rome, 
invested  with  great  influence,  and  looked  up  to,  not  only  in 
religious  matters,  but  even  in  political  affairs.  Indeed,  in 
the  universal  wreck,  it  was  the  Church  alone  that  kept  up 
the  organization  of  society.  The  very  barbarians  who  over- 
threw the  Roman  Empire  were  themselves  brought  under 
the  sway  of  the  Church ;  for,  barbarians  though  they  were, 
the  Teutons  had  a  deep  vein  of  earnestness  in  their  char- 
acter. Again,  the  state  of  affairs  in  Italy  had  much  to  do 
with  giving  the  Roman  bishops  great  influence.  When, 
under  Justinian,  the  Ostrogoths  were  overthrown  and  Italy 


Papal  Insignia. 


248  MEDTMVAL  HISTORY. 

came  under  the  dominion  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Byzantine  Emperor  did  not  live  at  Rome, 
but  at  Ravenna.  This  caused  the  power  of  the  bishops  of 
Rome  to  grow  greater  and  greater.  The  Roman  bisliop, 
or  pontiff,*  was  called  Pater,  or  Papa,  father  (whence  Eng- 
lish/'(?/^t),  and  he  had  avast  moral  influence,  though  as 
yet  no  temporal  power.  How  temporal  power  was  first  ac- 
quired will  now  be  told. 

98.  The  Lombards,  who  in  the  8th  century  had  fully 
The  Lombards  established  their  kingdom  in  Northern  Italy, 
and  Pepin.  \,qq\  every  Opportunity  to  enlarge  their  terri- 
tory at  the  expense  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  They  made 
themselves  masters  of  Ravenna,  Rome,  etc.  But  this  was 
not  a  change  that  was  at  all  agreeable  either  to  the  popes 
or  to  the  Roman  people ;  hence  the  aid  of  Pepin,  father 
of  Charlemagne,  was  asked.  Pepin  came  and  saved  Rome, 
and  won  from  the  Lombards  the  territory  of  the  Exarchate 
of  Ravenna.  He  then  took  a  step  that  led  to  mighty  re- 
sults :  he  bestowed  this  territory  on  the  popes,  and  this  was 
the  beginning  of  the  temporal  power  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
When  Charlemagne  had  overthrown  the  Lombard  kingdom, 
and  was  crowned  king  of  Italy  and  afterw^ards  Emperor  of 
the  West  (a.  d.  800),  he  confirmed  the  grant  which  his  father 
Pepin  had  made  to  the  popes. 

99.  After  the  death  of  Charlemagne  there  was  a  long 
The  popes  and  pcriod  —  nearly  two  centuries  —  of  confusion, 
the  emperors,  u^der  the  Weak  rule  of  the  Carlovingian  kings 
of  France,  Italy,  and  Germany.  During  all  this  time  the 
Papal  power  grew,  and  exercised  a  great  authority  in  politi- 

*  The  name  "pontiff"  is  derived  from  the  Potttifex  maximus,  the 
chief  officer  of  the  old  pagan  religion  of  Rome. 

t  Till  the  time  of  Pope  Gregory  VII.,  the  title  of  Pope  was  given 
to  all  bishops  alike ;  he,  however,  in  1076  decreed  that  thenceforth  it 
should  be  applied  only  to  the  Roman  "papa,"  or  pontiff,  prefixing  at  the 
same  time  the  epithet  sanctui,  whence  the  modern  style,  "  His  Hohness 
the  Pope." 


GROWTH  OF  THE  PAPAL  POWER.  249 

cal  matters.  When,  however,  in  the  middle  of  the  loth 
century,  the  sovereigns  of  Germany  came  to  be  Emperors 
of  the  West,  a  long  and  bitter  struggle  between  the  popes 
and  the  emperors  began.  The  Italians  did  not  like  to  be 
under  German  dominion,  and  the  popes  became  naturally 
the  center  round  which  all  the  anti-German  feeling  gathered. 
Nl  The  popes,  as  temporal  rulers  of  Rome,  were  vassals  of  the 
emperor ;  but  as  the  spiritual  head  of  Christendom,  they 
held  a  position  of  peculiar  importance. 

100.  The  struggle  first  broke  out  on  the  question  of  the 
election  of  the  popes.  The  emperors  claimed  Narrative  of 
that  a  ratification  by  them,  of  any  one  elected  ^^^  quarrel, 
by  the  College  of  Cardinals  to  be  Pope,  was  necessary  to 
make  the  election  valid.  Of  course,  the  emperors  sought 
to  have  popes  chosen  who  were  favorable  to  their  views. 
In  the  first  part  of  the  contest  the  emperors  had  things 
much  their  own  way,  and  undertook  to  appoint  German 
bishops  to  the  pontificate,  and  to  carry  matters  with  a  high 
hand.  But  they  were  to  be  humbled  in  a  most  remarkable 
manner,  by  the  dauntless  energies  of  one  man,  a  humble 
monk  of  Soa'na,  son  of  a  poor  carpenter  of  Tus'cany.  This 
was  Hil'debrand,  afterwards  known  as  Gregory  VII.,  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  men  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

101.  Hildebrand  was  called  to  Rome,  in  a.  d.   1049,  by 
Pope  Leo  IX.,  to  assist  in  the  Papal  councils  as 
chancellor  and  cardinal.     This  office  he  held 

for  twenty  years,  under  five  successive  popes,  over  whom 
he  exercised  the  ascendency  of  a  great  mind.  It  was  dur- 
ing this  time  that  he  matured  his  plan  for  the  complete 
emancipation  of  the  Church.  Believing  that  the  Church 
supplied  the  only  means  by  which  the  regeneration  of 
Europe  could  be  effected,  he  aimed  to  set  that  body  above 
all  merely  earthly  power,  —  a  daring  project ;  but  the 
dreadful  evils  of  the  period  required  a  powerful  remedy. 

102.  In  1073  Hildebrand  rose  to  the  Papal  throne,  with 


250 


MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 


Gregory  VII. 


the  title  of  Gregory  VII.     His  first  measure  was  to  strike 

What  he  did.  ^  ^\°^^  ^^  ^^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^^^^  t^^  "  "ght  of  in- 
vestiture," claimed 
by  the  emperors.  This  was  the 
right  of  bestowing  on  bishops 
and  abbots  the  ring  and  staff 
that  were  the  s}Tnbols  of  their 
office,  —  a  form  which  declared 
their  feudal  vassalage  to  the  em- 
peror. Now,  Gregory  caused  it 
to  be  ordained  by  a  council,  that 
if  any  one  should  accept  inves- 
titure from  a  layman,  both  the 
giver  and  the  receiver  should  be  excommunicated. 

103.  The  Emperor  Henry  IV.  set  this  decree  at  defi- 
Henry  IV.  and  ^ncc.  Upon  this  the  Popc  Solemnly  excom- 
Hiidebrand.  municated  the  emperor,  and  absolved  his  subjects 
in  Gennatiy  and  Italy  from  their  oath  of  allegiance  I  Enraged 
at  this,  Henry  prepared  for  war.  But  soon  there  was 
brought  home  to  him  a  vivid  realization  of  the  appalling 
power  of  that  unseen  dominion  that  had  arisen  to  sway  the 
minds  of  men.  In  ever}^  quarter  of  his  empire  monks  and 
friars  preached  against  him,  insurrections  arose  on  every 
hand,  and  Henry,  who  entered  Italy  with  the  vow  of  ven- 
geance, was  forced  to  become  a  humble  suitor  for  mercy 
at  the  hands  of  Gregor}^  On  the  21st  of  January,  1077, 
the  Emperor  Henry  proceeded  to  Canos'sa,  where  the  Pope 
resided,  to  seek  the  pardon  of  his  powerful  foe.  It  was  a 
wonderful  scene.  The  most  potent  sovereign  of  Europe 
had  to  suffer  the  deepest  humiliation  ever  brooked  by  mon- 
arch. It  was  only  after  the  most  abject  confessions  of  his 
error,  and  standing  for  three  days  in  an  outer  court  of  tlie 
castle,  amid  the  cold  of  winter,  barefoot,  and  clad  only  in 
a  woolen  shirt,  that  he  was  absolved,  and  the  dread  inter- 
dict removed.     Henr}^,  however,  had  his  revenge ;   he  re- 


GROWTH  OF   THE  PAPAL   POWER.  2$! 

newed  the  war,  and  Gregory,  forced  to  flee  from  Rome,  died 
in  exile  at  Saler'no  (a.  d.  1085). 

104.  The  successors  of  Gregory  steadily  adhered  to  his 
policy,  and  as  the  Papacy  remained  un-  Policy  of 
changed  while  all  Europe  was  shaken  by  revo-  successors, 
lutions,  every  day  brought  fresh  accessions  to  the  Papal 
side.  The  kings  of  Portugal,  Aragon,  England,  Scotland, 
Sardinia,  the  two  Sicilies,  and  others  became  vassals  to  the 
Roman  pontiffs.  At  length  the  German  Emperor,  Henry  V., 
yielded,  and  by  a  treaty  signed  at  Worms^(A.  D.  1122)  for- 
mally resigned  all  claim  to  investitures. 

105.  Innocent   III.    (1198-1216)   vastly  increased   the 
Papal  power.     He  forced  the  Imperial  Prefect 

C  ,,       •  ,  .  TT  Innocent  III. 

at  Rome  to  swear  allegiance  to  him.     He  set 
on  foot  a  Crusade  that  crushed  the  Al'bigenses  of  France. 
He  humbled  King  John  of  England,  and  imposed  a  tribute 
upon  him.     In  fact,  he  in  many  cases  exercised  the  powers 
of  Sovereign  of  Europe, — an  earthly  King  of  kings. 

106.  The  narrative  of  how  this  power  was  maintained, 
and  how,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  opposed, 

fills  a  large  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  full  recital  cannot  be  given  here.  It  is  even 
hard  to  say  which  party  won  in  the  end.  On  this  point  a 
great  authority  observes  :  "  We  may  perhaps  say  that  the 
popes  did  succeed  in  overthrowing  the  power  of  the  em 
perors,  but  that  they  had  themselves  to  yield  in  the  end  tc 
the  power  of  other  temporal  princes." 


/ 


252 


MEDIEVAL  HISTORY. 


THE   CRUSADES. 


253 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE      CRUSADES. 
X.    INTRODUCTION. 

1:07.    During  two  hundred  years,  —  comprising  the  whole 
of  the  1 2th  and  the  13th  centuries,  —  the  most  General  state- 
important    events    of    European   history  had   "^e"^- 
relation  to  that  series  of  extraordinary  expeditions  known 


Crusaders  before  Jerusalem. 

as  the  Crusades.     This  term  is  derived  from  the  French 
word  croisade  (croix,  the  cross),  which  means  war  of  the  cross. 
The  Crusades  were  undertaken  by  the  Western  nations  of     , 
Europe  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land  from  the  Sara-  ^ 
cens  and  Turks. 


254  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY. 

108.  It  had  been  customary,  from  an  early  period  in  the 

history  of  Christianity,  for  believers  from  every 

Pilgrimages.  r     i        ^i     •      •  i  i  i  -i      • 

part  of  the  Christian  world  to  make  pilgrim- 
ages to  the  Holy  Land  of  Palestine.  Whilst  the  Saracens 
remained  masters  of  Palestine  they  encouraged  and  pro- 
tected visitors,  whose  arrival  brought  them  considerable 
profit.  But  when  the  Selju'kian  Turks,  in  the  middle  of  the 
nth  century,  became  masters  of  Asia  Minor  and  Syria,  the 
Christians,  whether  residents  or  pilgrims,  were  subjected  to 
the  most  cruel  treatment.  Every  day  brought  back  to 
Europe  weary  palmers  who  had  been  scoffed  at  and  spit 
upon  by  the  Infidels,  as  the  Mohammedans  were  called. 

109.  The  news  of  the  cruelties  perpetrated  by  the  Turks 
The  feeling  o^^  the  Christians  of  Palestine  produced  a 
aroused.  deep  feeling  of  indignation  throughout  West- 
em  Europe,  and  aroused  a  strong  desire  to  arrest  the 
progress  of  the  hated  religion  of  Mohammed,  and  recover 
the  Holy  Land  from  Moslem  desecration. 

110.  This  desire  was  roused  into  action  by  the  enthu- 
Peter  the  Her-  siasm  of  a  monk  called  Peter  the  Hermit 
™i*-  This  extraordinary  man  was  a  native  of  Am- 
iens, in  France.  He  followed  the  wars  in  his  youth,  then 
became  a  monk,  afterwards  retired  to  absolute  solitude, 
and  finally  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem.  There  wit- 
nessing the  cruelties  of  the  Turks,  he  became  possessed 
with  the  idea  that  he  was  inspired  by  Heaven  to  deliver 
the  Holy  Sepulcher  from  their  hands. 

111.  On  his  return   to   Europe    Peter   repaired   to    the 

Papal  Court,  and  found  in  the  Pope,  Urban 
IS  preac  ing.  ^^^  ^^  astonishcd  but  ready  listener  to  his 
bold  project.  Encouraged  by  the  Pope,  he  travelled  over 
Italy  and  France,  ever3Tvhere  proclaiming  the  sacred  duty 
of  delivering  the  sepulcher  of  Christ  from  the  hands  of  the 
Infidels.  He  is  described  as  emaciated  by  self-iii'licted 
austerities  and  wayfaring  toil,  diminutive  in  stature,  mean 


THE  CRUSADES.  2$$ 


in  appearance,  and  clad  in  tliose  coarse  weeds  of  a  solitary 
from  which  he  derived  his  surname  of  the  Hermit.  But  he 
was  fluent  in  speech,  and  the  vehement  sincerity  of  his  feel- 
ings supplied  him  with  the  only  eloquence  that  would  have 
been  intelligible  to  the  popular  passions  of  his  times. 

1 12.  The  chroniclers  of  the  period  exhaust  language  in 
describing  the  innumerable  crowds  of  all  ranks  Effect  of  his 
which  thronged  cities  and  hamlets,  churches  Pleaching, 
and  highways,  at  his  voice  ;  the  tears,  the  sighs,  the  indigna- 
tion excited  in  these  multitudes  by  his  picture  of  the  wrongs 
of  their  Christian  brethren,  and  the  sacrilegious  defilement 
of  the  Holy  Sepulcher ;  the  shame  and  remorse  which  fol- 
lowed his  reproaches  at  the  g'lilty  supineness  that  had 
abandoned  the  blessed  scenes  of  redemption  to  the  insults 
of  Infidels  ;  the  eager  reception  of  his  injunctions  to  every 
sinner  to  seek  reconcilement  with  Heaven  by  devotion  to 
its  cause ;  and  the  rapture  which  his  denunciations  of  ven- 
geance against  the  Saracen  enemies  of  God  awakened  in 
the  stern  hearts  of  congregated  warriors. 

113.  The  cause  was  now  taken  up  openly  by  the  Pope, 
and  two  councils  were  held  on  the  subject  in   council  of 

A.  D.  1095.  At  the  second,  held  at  Clermont,  ciermont. 
in  France,  the  Pope  addressed  a  great  multitude  assembled 
from  all  parts  of  Europe.  As  he  proceeded  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  crowd  found  vent  in  cries  of  £>eus  vult,  and  the 
slightly  varied  acclamations  of  Dieiix  el  volt  and  Deus  lo 
volt* — "It  is  the  will  of  God  !  "  At  the  instant  when  their 
cries  resounded  throughout  the  vast  assembly,  the  figurative 
injunction  of  Scripture  to  the  sinner,  to  take  up  the  cross  of 
Christ,  suggested  to  Urban  the  idea  that  all  who  embraced 
the  sacred  enterprise  should  bear  on  their  shoulder  or  breast 
that  symbol  of  salvation.   The  proposal  was  eagerly  adopted 

*  Dieux  el  volt  and  Detis  lo  volt  were  the  popular  corruptions  whick 
the  pure  Latin,  Deus  vult,  had  undergone  in  the  two  great  Northern  and 
Proven9al  dialects  of  France. 


256  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY. 

and  few  there  were  who  left  the  old  market-place  on  that 
day  without  a  red  cross  on  the  shoulder,  to  mark  them  as 
Croises,  or  soldiers  of  the  cross.  The  following  spring  was 
appointed  as  the  time  for  beginning  the  movement  to  the 
East 

2.    THE   FIRST   CRUSADE  (A.  D.  1096-1099). 

114.  Long  before  the  season  —  August  the  15th — fixed 

on  by  the  Pope  for  the  departure  c>^  the  Cru- 

First  rush,  ,11  .       ,      ,       .  .  ^    , 

saders  had  expired,  the  impatience  of  the  ruder 
multitudes  of  people  grew  too  violent  for  restraint.  Soon 
after  the  commencement  of  the  new  year  an  immense  con- 
course of  pilgrims,  chiefly  of  the  lowest  classes,  and  consist- 
uig  not  of  men  alone,  but  also  of  women  and  children,  had 
thronged  around  Peter  the  Hermit,  on  the  eastern  frontiers 
of  France,  and  urged  him,  as  the  original  preacher  of  the 
sacred  enterprise,  to  assume  its  command.  Apparently  un- 
conscious of  his  utter  unfitness  for  command,  the  fanatic 
rashly  accepted  the  perilous  charge  ;  and  under  his  guid- 
ance, and  that  of  a  Burgundian  knight  named  Walter  the 
Penniless,  the  accumulating  torrent  began  to  sweep  over 
Germany. 

115.  The  several  bands  composing  this  vanguard  of  the 
.  Crusades,   amounting  to  more   than    250,000. 

took  the  route  through  Germany,  Hungary, 
Bulgaria,  and  Thrace  ;  but  being  without  organization  or 
provision,  they  committed  the  most  dreadful  devastations 
in  the  countries  through  which  they  passed,  and  were  mostly 
dispersed  and  exterminated  by  the  enraged  Hungarian 
peasantry.  Remnants  of  the  bands  succeeded  in  crossing 
the  Bosphorus  at  Constantinople,  but  these  were  soon  cut  to 
pieces  by  the  Turks.  Such  was  the  disastrous  beginning  of 
the  Crusade,  —  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  individuals  swept 
out  of  existence,  altogether  without  result. 

116.  Meanwhile  the  real  chivalry  of  Europe  had   been 


THE  FIRST  CRUSADE.  257 

mustering  for  the  enterprise.  None  of  the  sovereigns 
took  part  in  the  movement ;  but  the  feudal  Main  move- 
chiefs,  each  at  the  head  of  his  own  vassals,  "^^n'^- 
ranged  themselves  under  distinguished  leaders,  —  Godfrey 
of  Bouillon',  Duke  of  Lower  Lorraine'  (in  the  modern 
kingdom  of  Belgium),  Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy,  and 
others.  Six  separate  armies  were  thus  formed,  which 
marched  by  different  routes  to  Constantinople. 

117.  The  appearance  of  this  vast  host  —  amounting  to 
at  least  600,000  men,  exclusive  of  women  and 

priests  —  alarmed  the  Greek  Emperor  with  the 
fear  that  the  Latin  princes  might  seek  to  secure  the  mas- 
tery of  the  East  for  themselves,  and  not  for  hiiti.  It  was 
only  by  the  threat  of  attacking  Constantinople  that  he  was 
made  to  withdraw  his  opposition,  and  further  the  transit  of 
the  Crusaders  into  Asia  Minor.  Here  all  the  great  divis- 
ions of  the  crusading  levies  made  a  junction,  and  their 
numbers  were  increased  by  the  wretched  remnants  of  the 
preceding  mob,  who,  with  Peter  the  Hermit  himself,  found 
their  way  from  various  places  of  refuge  to  the  general 
muster. 

118.  The  real  nerve  of  the  grand  army  consisted  of  the 
mailed  cavalry,  amounting  to  over  100,000  Description  of 
men.  This  superb  body  of  horse  was  com-  *^*  ^'"'"y- 
posed  of  the  flower  of  the  European  chivalry:  knights, 
esquires,  and  their  attendant  men-at-arms,  completely 
equipped  with  the  helmet  and  shield,  the  coat  and  boots  of 
chain  and  scale  armor,  the  lance  and  the  sword,  the  battle- 
ax  and  the  ponderous  mace  of  iron.  The  crowd  of  foot- 
men fought  principally  with  the  long  and  cross  bow ;  but 
they  formed  a  miserable  contrast  to  the  splendor  of  the 
chivalric  array,  which  glittered  in  the  blazonry  of  embroid- 
ered and  ermined  surcoats,  shields  and  head-pieces  inlaid 
with  gems  and  gold,  and  banners  and  pennons  distinguish- 
ing the  princely  and  noble  rank  of  chieftains  and  knights. 


258  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY. 

119.  The  first  movement  of  the  Crusaders  was  directed 
Advance  against  Nicc,  or  NicEe'a,  in  Asia  Minor.     Tliis 

through  Asia  ,  '  ^   ^  ^        r^  1  T        1      • 

Minor.  piacc  was  captured  by  the  Crusaders,     in  their 

advance  through  Asia  Minor,  a  march  of  500  miles  was  still 
to  be  made  before  they  could  touch  the  confines  of  Syria, 
and  the  Sultan  of  Roum  was  prepared  to  offer  a  formidable 
resistance.  With  an  immense  cloud  of  cavalry  —  the  num- 
ber is  put  at  300,000  horse  —  he  hovered  around  the  Cru- 
saders ;  and  at  Doryte'um  he  suddenly  fell  upon  one  of 
the  two  main  divisions  while  on  the  march.  So  sudden 
was  the  onset,  that  the  victory  was  at  first  with  the  Turks  j 
but  rallying,  and  being  reinforced  by  the  other  division, 
the  Crusaders  fell  upon  the  enemy.  In  close  combat,  the 
supple  dexterity  of  the  Asiatics,  armed  with  the  curved 
scimitar  and  light  javelin,  could  make  but  a  feeble  opposi- 
tion to  the  ponderous  strokes  of  the  European  arm  wield- 
ing the  long  pointed  sword  and  gigantic  lance.  In  a  direct 
charge  the  Turkish  cavalry  was  completely  overpowered, 
and  of  the  mighty  host  30,000  were  slain.  This  was  prob- 
ably one  of  the  most  tremendous  cavalry  battles  ever 
fought. 

120.  But  what  Sol'yman  could  not  accomplish  in  the 
Sufferings  on  fi^'d  he  largely  effected  in  another  way.  Ke 
the  march.  made  the  country  through  which  the  Cru- 
saders were  to  march  a  waste.  Hundreds  died,  on  every 
day's  march,  of  want,  of  fatigue,  of  raging  thirst  or  its  fatal 
gratification.  The  horses  in  particular  died  in  such  num- 
bers that  30,000  men  were  dismounted  on  this  march,  and 
had  to  trudge  along,  fainting  with  the  weight  of  their  armor, 
under  the  burning  sun.  At  last  they  s£;vv,  set  in  the  emer- 
ald meadows  that  line  the  Oron'tes,  the  fair  turrets  of  the 
Syrian  An'tioch.     (See  map,  page  252.) 

121.  To  lay  siege  to  the  capital  of  Syria  was  now  the 
Siege  of  Anti-  task  of  the  Crusadcrs.  But  this  task  was 
"*='»•  pursued   amid  great   difficulties.      For  seven 


THE  FIRST  CRUSADE.  259 

months  the  city  held  out,  and  during  this  time  the  besiegers 
had  to  suffer  the  horrors  of  famine  and  pestilence.  Their 
horses  were  either  starved,  or  killed  for  food,  and  erelong, 
of  the  100,000  horses  with  which  the  march  was  begun, 
only  2000  remained.  Finally,  by  tne  treachery  of  a  Syrian 
officer,  the  Crusaders  were  able  one  dark  stormy  night  to 
surprise  and  capture  the  city,  June,  1098. 

122.  No  sooner  was  Antioch  captured  than  the  Cru- 
saders were  in  their  turn  besieged  in  that  city  Events  in  An- 
by   an   army  of  200,000  Mohammedans,  sent  t'"'^*'- 

by  the  Persian  sultan.  A  second  and  still  more  terrible 
famine  was  suffered.  But  finally  the  Crusaders,  by  a  bold 
sally,  completely  overthrew  the  besieging  host.  The  way 
was  now  open  to  Jerusalem,  and  thither  the  columns 
headed,  —  columns,  however,  that  were  sadly  reduced  ;  for 
of  the  immense  host,  perhaps  600,000  men,  which  had  origi- 
nally formed  the  siege  of  Nice,  so  enormous  had  been  the 
losses  by  the  sword  and  the  climate,  by  famine  and  pes- 
tilence, desertion  and  conquest,  that  the  total  force  which 
advanced  from  Antioch  amounted  to  only  1500  cavalry 
and  20,000  foot-soldiers,  with  about  an  equal  number  of 
unarmed  pilgrims  and  camp-followers. 

123.  From  Antioch  to  Jaffa,  300  miles,  the  Crusaders 
moved  along  the  sea-shore.     Then  they  struck  „ 

...  .  ^  .  To  Jerusalem 

mto  the  mterior  country,  traversmg  a  region 
filled  with  places  which  hourly  recalled  some  sacred  associa- 
tion. At  last  the  Holy  City  burst  upon  their  enraptured 
gaze.  In  that  glorious  sight,  the  long-cherished  object, 
promise  and  reward  of  their  hopes,  every  toil  was  forgot- 
ten, every  suffering  repaid.  The  single  mighty  passion  of 
a  host  suddenly  broke  forth  in  joyful  exclamations  and 
embraces ;  and  the  whole  armed  multitude,  as  with  one 
impulse,  sinking  on  their  knees,  prostrated  themselves,  and 
poured  out  their  tears  over  the  consecrated  soil. 

124.  The  deliverance  of  the  Holy  City  and   Sepulcher 


26o  MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 

Still  remained  to  be  accomplished.  At  this  time  Jerusalem 
Siege  of  the  was  in  the  possession,  not  of  the  Turks,  but 
•^'^y-  of  the    Saracenic    caliph  of  Egypt,   who  was 

head  of  an  independent  government,  and  had  recently  won 
Palestine  from  the  Turks.  The  caliph  was  determined  to 
make  a  stout  resistance  ;  so  a  siege  had  to  be  begun.  Under 
.1  sky  of  burning  copper,  with  no  water  in  the  pools  and 
brooks,  the  Crusaders  fought  for  five  long  weeks  before 
Godfrey  and  his  stormers  stood  victorious  within  the  walls, 
July,  1099.  The  massacre  of  70,000  Moslems  and  the  burn- 
ing of  the  Jews  in  their  synagogue  stained  the  glory  of  the 
conquerors. 

125.  Jerusalem  was  now  erected  into  a  Christian  king- 
Kingdom  of  dom.  The  princely  and  noble  chieftains  of 
Jerusalem.  j-]^g  crusading  host  b^-  their  free  vote  pro- 
claimed Godfrey  of  Bouillon  king  of  the  Holy  City,  July 
23,  1099,  Godfrey,  however,  modestly  refused  a  regal 
crown,  nor  would  he  assume  any  other  title  than  that  of 
Defender  of  the  Tomb  of  Christ.  Still,  from  tlie  election 
of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  may  not  the  less  be  dated  the 
foundation  of  the  Latin  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  after 
the  Holy  city  had  been  four  hundred  and  fifty  years  in 
the  hands  of  the  Mohammedans.  The  great  design  of  the 
First  Crusade  was  accomplished, 

126.  After  this  victory  many  of  the  actors  in  the  great 
drama  went  home.  Among  these  was  Peter  the  Hermit 
who  closed  his  days  in  a  French  monastery.     The  noble 

and  chivalric  Godfrey  reigned  five  days  less 
than  a  year,  when  he  died  at  the  age  of  forty. 
So  just  and  paternal  had  been  his  rule,  that  he  was  regretted 
alike  by  Moslems  and  Christians.  He  was  succeeded  by 
his  brother  Baldwin,  who  transmitted  the  crown  of  Jerusa- 
lem to  his  kinsman,  Baldwin  du  Bourg,  whose  posterity 
continued  to  reign  in  Palestine  until  the  kingdom  was  over- 
thrown by  Saladin  in  a.  d.  1x87. 


THE  SECOND   CRUSADE.  26 1 


3.    SECOND   CRUSADE  (A.  D.   1147-1149). 

127.  During  a  period  of  half  a  century  the  Christian  do- 
minion in  the  East  maintained  itself  against  situation  in 
the  attacks  of  the  surrounding  Mohammedans.  ^^^  ^*^*- 
But  after  the  lapse  of  fifty  years  dangers  began  to  arise 
threatening  the  very  existence  of  the  Christian  kingdom. 
One  of  the  Turkish  emirs,  or  governors,  took  the  Christian 
principality  of  Edes'sa  (see  map,  page  252),  and  slaughtered 
the  Christian  inhabitants  (a.  d.  1145). 

128.  The  news  of  the  fall  of  Edessa  startled  the  Chris- 
tian residents  in  Palestine,  and  led  them  to   Effect  in 
appeal  to  Europe  for  assistance.     This  appeal   Europe. 

was  received  with  a  general  enthusiasm  almost  equal  to  that 
which  marked  the  First  Crusade.  The  pure  and  devoted 
St.  Bernard  preached  a  new  Crusade.  Moreover,  his  elo- 
quence enlisted  in  the  Second  Crusade  the  two  foremost 
sovereigns  of  the  age,  —  Conrad  III.,  Emperor  of  Germany, 
and  Louis  VII.  of  France. 

129.  The    armies,    numbering    300,000    choice    troops, 
moved  in  a.  d.  1147,  and,  following  the  path 

of  the  earlier  Crusaders,  advanced  to  Constan- 
tinople. The  Emperor  Conrad,  preceding  his  ally,  passed 
the  Bosphorus,  and  marched  into  Asia  Minor.  But  the 
Emperor  of  the  East,  Man'uel,  being-  an  enemy  of  Conrad's, 
gave  the  sultan  secret  intelligence  of  the  German  line  of 
march,  and  furnished  Conrad  with  treacherous  guides.  The 
result  was,  that,  after  sustaining  a  glorious  but  unsuccessful 
combat  on  the  banks  of  the  Mean'der,  the  German  army 
had  to  retreat  to  Nice.  Nine  tenths  of  the  whole  German 
host  are  said  to  have  been  destroyed  by  the  shafts  and  scimi- 
tars of  the  Infidels,  or  to  have  perished  of  hunger  and  thirst. 

130.  The    French,   under   Louis   VII.,  had   meanwhile 
moved  to  Nice,  and  thence,  being  joined  by  Advance  to 
!iie  remnant  of  troops  under  Conrad,  the  two  Jerusalem. 


262  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY. 

bodies  advanced  together  through  Asia  Minor.  They 
suffered  a  severe  check  at  Laodice'a;  but  still  struggled 
on,  storm-beaten  and  famine-worn,  to  Antioch,  and  finally 
reached  Jerusalem,  vi^ith  a  mere  fraction  of  the  chivalric 
army  that  had  left  Europe. 

131.    The  first  and  only  undertaking  was  the  siege  of 
Damascus.    This  was  a  miserable  failure  :  and 

Result. 

the  Second  Crusade  closed  in  gloom,  with  the 
return  of  the  Crusaders  to  their  own  country. 


4.     THE  THIRD   CRUSADE  (A.  D.  1189-1192). 

132.  Forty  years  elapsed  before  the  Third  Crusade  began. 

In  the  interval  an  important  revolution  had 
taken  place  in  Mussulman  politics.  Sallah-a- 
deen,  or  Saladin,  as  he  is  generally  called,  a  young  Curdish 
chieftain,  had  united  the  Mussulman  states,  from  the  Nile  to 
the  Tigris,  under  his  single  empire.  Meanwhile  the  Latin 
kingdom,  through  internal  disorders,  was  fast  falling  into 
a  state  of  weakness.  Taking  advantage  of  this  fact,  Saladin 
invaded  Palestine,  took  town  after  town,  and  lastly  Jerusalem, 
after  a  siege  of  fourteen  days,  a.  d.  1187.  The  only  place 
that  remained  to  the  Christians  in  Palestine  was  Tyre. 

133.  The  news  of  the  extinction  of  the  kingdom  of 
Events  of  Jerusalem  called  forth  the  Third  Crusade.  The 
Third  Crusade,  thj-gg  great  Wcstem  princes  took  the  cross,  — 
Richard  I.  of  England,  known  as  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion 
(Lion-hearted)  ;  Philip  Augustus  of  France  ;  and  Frederick 
Barbaros'sa  (Red-beard),  Emperor  of  Germany.  A  tax, 
called  Saladin's  tithe,  was  laid  upon  Christendom,  to  meet 
the  expenses  of  the  war. 

134.  WTiile  the  French  and  the  English  monarchs  trans- 
Frederick's  ported  their  armies  to  Palestine  by  sea,  the 
column.  high-souled  Frederick  marched  overland  with 
60,000  cavalry  and  100,000  infantry.    Fine  preparations  had 


THE    THIRD   CRUSADE.  263 


been  made,  so  that  the  march  through  Europe  and  across  the 
Hellespont  into  Asia  Minor  was  a  complete  success.  Unfor 
tunately,  the  emperor  met  his  death  while  bathing  in  a  little 
stream  in  Cili'cia.  The  expedition  having  thus  lost  its  head^ 
everything  fell  into  disorder,  and  before  the  CrusaderS 
reached  the  borders  of  Syria,  their  numbers  had  been  re- 
duced to  one  tenth  the  original  force.  The  remnant  joined 
the  French  and  English  forces  before  A'cre.    (Map,  p.  252.) 

135.  The  Christians  in  Syria  had  in  the  mean  time  rallied, 
and  were  laying  siege  to  Acre.     Now  that  the 

,.,  rV--  ,--ii         •  Siege  of  Acre. 

chivalry  of  Europe  came  to  their  aid,  the  siege 
could  be  prosecuted  with  much  vigor.  In  vain  Saladin  at- 
tempted to  relieve  Acre.  Numerous  battles  were  fought  in 
the  plains  around,  between  the  Crusaders  and  the  Moslem 
myriads ;  and  after  a  siege  of  twenty-three  months,  Acre 
surrendered  to  the  Christians,  a.  d.  1191. 

136.  The  capture  of  Acre  was  hailed  by  the  Christians 
as  a  glad  omen  of  the  recovery  of  the  Holy 

„         ,   ,  -r^         ,  -1     •    1      1  111     Pnihp  retires. 

Sepulcher.  But  these  bright  hopes  were  dashed 
by  the  retirement  of  the  king  of  France  from  the  Crusade. 
The  cause  of  this  secession  is  believed  to  have  been  disgust 
on  the  part  of  Philip  Augustus  at  the  reckless  character  and 
intolerable  arrogance  of  the  Lion-hearted,  united,  perhaps, 
with  some  jealousy  of  the  superior  glory  won  by  Richard. 

137.  Richard  remained,  and  continued  the  struggle  for 
some  time  with  various  success  ;  but  at  last  he  ^,    . 

1  •  1      <-,    1      1-  1  r  Closing  events. 

agreed  to  a  truce  with  Saladin,  the  terms  01 
which  were,  on  the  whole,  favorable  to  the  Christians,  and 
creditable  to  the  liberality  and  tolerance  of  the  Moham- 
medans.* 

*  Richard  took  his  departure  from  the  East  in  October,  A.  D.  1192  ;  but 
being  detained  on  the  way  as  a  prisoner  of  the  Austrian  archduke  at 
Vienna,  he  did  not  reach  England  for  nearly  two  years  afterwards.  In 
the  mean  time  Saladin,  between  whom  and  Richard  there  had  been  estab- 
lished a  mutual  admiration  and  regard,  died  in  A.  D.  Il93t  This  evenf; 
gave  a  new  turn  to  the  history  of  the  Holy  Land. 


264  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY. 


5.     THE   LATER   CRUSADES. 

138.  The  three  expeditions  that  have  just  been  described 
Character  of  form  what  we  may  regard  as  the  Greater  Cru- 
later  Crusades,  sadcs.  Several  Subsequent  Crusades  —  three 
or  four  —  were  undertaken  ;  but  some  of  these  were  not  di- 
rected towards  the  Holy  Land  at  all,  and  the  others  failed 
of  any  great  results. 

DETAILS  OF  THE  LATER  CRUSADES. 

Fourth  Crusade.  The  chiefs  of  this  Crusade  were  animated  more  by 
ambition  and  a  spirit  of  military  adventure  than  by  religious  zeal. 
They  purchased  the  aid  of  a  Venetian  fleet  by  reducing,  under  the 
control  of  Venice,  Zara,  a  Christian  city  in  Dalma'tia  (A.  D.  1202), 
and  finally,  instead  of  sailing  to  Palestine,  they  directed  their  course 
to  Constantinople,  where  they  overthrew  the  Greek  Empire  (a.  d. 
1204),  and  established  on  its  ruins  a  Latin  kingdom  that  lasted  till 
A.  D.  1260. 

Fifth  Crusade.  Egypt  was  the  scene  of  the  Fifth  Crusade  (a.  d. 
1216-1220).  Success  attended  the  first  operations  of  the  Christian 
army;  but  finally  matters  were  managed  so  badly  that  the  army  v.'as 
forced  to  surrender  to  the  Egyptian  sultan.  There  was  what  may  be 
regarded  as  a  continuation  of  this  Crusade  in  A.  D.  1228  by  Frederick  II., 
Emperor  of  Germany.  He  entered  Jerusalem  in  triumph,  and  com- 
pelled the  Sultan  of  Egypt  to  cede  that  city  and  several  others  to  the 
Christians.  But  a  few  years  afterwards  all  that  had  been  gained  was 
swept  away. 

Sixth  Crusade.  This  expedition,  undertaken,  in  a.  d.  1238,  by  the 
French  under  the  King  of  Navarre  and  by  the  English  chivalry  under 
Richard,  Earl  of  Cornwall,  was  terminated  by  negotiation,  favorable 
terms  being  obtained  for  the  Christians.  But  peace  lasted  for  only 
two  years,  the  Latin  kingdom  being  overwhelmed  by  an  invasion  of 
the  Turks  of  Khorasm,  who  acquired  possession  of  most  of  Palestine. 

Seventh  Crusade.  This  new  disaster  excited  the  zeal  of  the  pious 
Louis  IX.  of  France  (known  as  Saint  Louis),  who  headed  the  Seventh 
Crusade,  a.  d.  1249.  It  turned  out  to  be  utterly  fruitless.  The  king 
was  captured,  and  had  to  pay  a  large  ransom  for  the  redemption  of 
himself  and  his  force. 

Eighth  Crusade.  Twenty-one  years  afterwards  (a.  d.  1270)  Saint 
Louis  undertook  what  proved  to  be  the  Eighth  and  last  Crusade.     It 


RESULTS  OF   THE   CRUSADES.  265 

was  totally  without  result.  On  his  way  the  French  king  turned  aside 
to  besiege  Tunis.  A  pestilential  disease  broke  out  in  the  army,  and 
Louis  himself  died.  Prince  Edward  of  England,  who  joined  with 
Louis  in  the  Crusade,  meanwhile  advanced  to  Palestine  ;  but  after  a 
few  unimportant  operations  he  was  compelled  to  return  home.  Soon 
after  this.  Acre,  the  last  stronghold  of  the  Christians,  was  captured, 
and  the  Holy  Land  fell  completely  into  the  power  of  the  Mohamme- 
dans. 


.        6.     RESULTS   OF   THE   CRUSADES. 

139.  The  Crusades  utterly  failed  in  their  immediate  ob- 
ject,—  the  recovery  of   the  Holy  Land  from 

the  Mohammedans.     Still,  the  effects  of  these 
remarkable  expeditions  were  very  important  in  many  ways. 

140.  We  may  note  that  the  Western  nations,  having  to 
act   in   concert,   came   to   know  one   another 

,  .  ,  ,  .      ,  .  First  effect. 

better,   to  mterchange  chivalrous  sentiments, 

to  feel  mutual  sympathies,   and  to  entertain  more  liberal 

ideas. 

141.  Next,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  Crusaders 
brought  from  the  East  the  knowledge  of  many  Effect 
products  and  processes  tending  to  promote  the 
arts  and  manufactures ;  and  it  was  during  these  expeditions 
that  modern  commerce  was  first  developed.  The  Italian 
maritime  states  supplied  the  Crusaders  with  transports,  and 
conveyed  to  them  stores  and  munitions  of  war.  This  traffic 
led  to  a  rapid  increase  in  the  commerce  and  navigation  of 
the  Mediterranean  ;  a  taste  for  spices  and  other  articles  of 
Oriental  luxury  was  gradually  diffused  throughout  Europe ; 
and  trading  depots  were  formed  by  Venice,  Genoa,  and 
other  Italian  states,  on  the  shores  of  the  Levant  and  the 
coasts  of  the  Greek  Empire. 

142.  Another  effect  was  to  diminish  the  strength  of  the 
feudal  aristocracy,  by  occasioning  the  breaking   Effect  on  feu-  ^ 
up  and  sale  of  many  feudal  properties.  daiism. 

143.  Chivalry,  though  older  than  the  Crusades,  derived 

12 


on  com- 
merce. 


266 


MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 


its  chief  influence  and  strength  from  these  wars.  The  use 
Effect  on  chiv-  of  sumames,  coats  of  arms,  and  distinctive 
^'■■y-  banners  became  necessary  in  armies  composed 

of  men  collected  at  hazard  from  every  Christian  kingdom. 

144.  The  Crusades  sprang  out  of  a  spirit  of  fanaticism ; 
Intellectual  t)ut  their  result,  in  the  long  run,  was  to  quench 
effect.  ^j^jg  ygjy  gpint^     Instcad  of  the  mere  feeling 

of  blind  abhorrence  with  which  Mohammedans  had  been  at 
first  regarded,  many  of  them  had  inspired  the  Christian 
knights  with  esteem  and  admiration.  Contact  with  men 
of  other  nationalities  had  its  effect  in  liberalizing  the  Euro- 
pean hosts  ;  men  returned  home  with  larger  ideas  and  a 
wider  horizon  of  thought,  and  we  may  say  that  from  the 
time  of  the  Crusades  a  great  intellectual  revival  began 
throughout  all  Europe. 


Peter  the   Hermit   Preaching  the  Crusades. 


CHIVALRY,  — ITS  RISE  AND  DECAY.  267 


CHAPTER    VII. 
CHIVALRY,— ITS    RISE   AND   DECAY. 

145.  Chivalry  sprang  out  of  feudalism,  and  was  its 
brightest  flower;  it  grew  into  a  great  insti-  General 
tution  that  for  several  centuries  exercised  a  sketch, 
wonderful  influence  on  the  manners,  habits,  thoughts,  and 
sentiments  of  men  in  all  the  nations  of  Western  Europe ; 
it  was  brought  to  maturity  and  splendor  by  the  Crusades ; 
it  was  pushed  to  fantastic  extremes,  and  it  ceased  to  exist 
when  feudal  society  passed  away. 

146.  Chivalry  had  its  origin  in  two  peculiarities  in  the 
customs  and  instincts  of  the  Gothic  races,  — 

the  great  honor  paid  to  the  profession  of  arms, 
and  the  high  regard  and  delicate  gallantry  of  the  Teutons 
towards  the  female  sex.  When  feudalism  had  become  a 
regular  system,  —  say  in  the  nth  century,  —  it  was  the 
custom  for  the  sons  of  the  various  vassals  of  a  lord  to  form 
a  little  court,  or  school,  in  his  castle,  where  they  were  edu- 
cated under  his  eye  and  along  with  the  members  of  his 
family  in  military  exercises  and  feudal  etiquette. 

147.  From  the  age  of  seven  to  fourteen  the  name  given 
to  these   boys   was  Page,  or   varlet,  —  in   old 

English  ballads,  child.  The  page  attended  the 
ladies  of  the  mansion,  following  them  in  their  walks,  or  ac- 
companying them  when  they  rode  out  hawking  or  hunting.  •' 
He  was  thus  taught  obedience  and  courtesy,  and  in  addition 
he  was  instructed  in  music,  chess,  the  doctrines  of  religion, 
and  the  use  of  light  weapons.  Being  constantly  surrounded 
by  noble  ladies  and  valiant  knights,  his  earliest  impressions 
were  those  of  gallantry,  honor,  love,  and  bravery.  Usually 
each    youth   selected   some    accomplished    young    lady  at 


268  MEDIMVAL   HISTORY. 

whose  feet  he  displayed  all  his  gallantry,  and  who  under- 
took to  polish  his  manners,  "  The  love  of  God  and  the 
ladies,"  says  Hallam,  "was  enjoined  as  a  single  duty. 
He  who  was  faithful  and  true  to  his  mistress  was  held  sure 
of  salvation,  in  the  theology  of  the  castle." 

148.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  the  page  became  a  squire; 

and  just  as  the  page  was  the  attendant  of  the 
quires.  ladies,  SO   the    squire   served  the   men.     The 

squire  was  employed  in  various  subordinate  offices  about 
the  castle ;  but  his  great  duty  was  to  follow  his  lord  to  the 
battle  or  the  tournament,  leading  the  war-horse.  When  the 
hour  of  battle  came,  he  arrayed  his  master  in  full  armor ; 
he  kept  behind  him  in  the  fight,  handed  a  fresh  lance,  led 
in  a  horse  if  his  lord  was  dismounted,  and  dashed  to  the 
rescue  if  he  saw  him  hard  pressed.  Such  were  a  squire's 
duties  till  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one,  when  he  attained 
the  goal  of  his  ambition,  —  he  became  a  knight  {?niles). 

149.  The  admission  to  knighthood  was  attended  by  an 
Ceremonial  of  imposing  Ceremonial.  Having  fasted  and 
knighthood.  confessed  all  his  sins,  the  candidate  passed  a 
night  in  prayer  and  watching.  Then,  having  bathed,  he 
was  dressed  in  new  robes,  —  an  underkirtle,  a  silk  or 
linen  vest  embroidered  with  gold,  a  collar  of  leather,  and 
over  all  the  coat  of  arms.  Proceeding  to  the  church,  he 
had  to  pass  an  examination,  and  if  he  was  judged  worthy 
of  admission  to  the  order  of  knighthood,  he  received  the 
sacrament  and  took  the  vows,  —  the  vow  that  he  would  be 
a  good,  brave,  loyal,  just,  generous,  and  gentle  knight,  that 
he  would  be  a  champion  of  the  Church  and  clergy,  that  he 
would  be  a  protector  of  ladies,  that  he  would  be  a  redresser 
of  the  wrongs  of  widows  and  orphans,  etc.  Then  the  bal- 
dric —  a  belt  of  white  leather  and  gold  —  was  slung  round 
the  candidate  ;  his  golden  spurs  were  buckled  on,  and  the 
prince  who  was  to  confer  the  dignity,  taking  the  aspirant's 
sword,  completed  the  ceremony  with  a  blow  of  its  flat  side 
on  the  neck. 


CHIVALRY,  — ITS  RISE  AND  DECAY.  269 

150.  The  dress  and  equipment  of  the  knight  varied 
much  at  different  periods.  At  the  time  of  the  Dress  and 
first  Crusade,  the  knights  wore  chain  armor,  ^'"'"o''- 
formed  of  interhnked  hooks  of  steel ;  a  hauberk,  or  tunic  of 
steel  rings,  hung  to  the  knees ;  the  head  was  protected  by 
a  hood  of  chain-mail  over  which  was  worn  a  low  flat  cap  of 
steel ;  mittens  covered  the  hands,  and  pointed  shoes  of 
mail  the  feet.  The  horses  were  at  first  unprotected ;  but 
afterwards  it  becan^e  customary  to  sheathe  them  in  com- 
plete armor.  During  the  14th  century  the  chain-mail  of  the 
early  knights  was  exchanged  for  armor  formed  of  over- 
lapping metal  plates ;  and  in  the  heyday  of  chivalry  the 
knight  must  have  been  truly  a  splendid  and  romantic  figure, 
mounted  on  his  richly  caparisoned  steed,  glittering  in  his 
costly  armor  of  steel,  with  plume  and  crest  and  vizored 
helmet,  with  lance  and  mace  and  battle-ax. 

151.  The  characteristic  amusement  of  the  age  of  chiv- 
alry was  the  tournament,  celebrated  on  occa- 

.  ,  .  T     •  •    1       1        ■  •  Tourneys. 

sions  of  coronations,  distmguished  victories, 
royal  marriages,  etc.  The  tourne)'^s  took  place  within  what 
were  called  the  lists,  —  a  space  roped  or  railed  off  in  an 
oval  form.  The  open  spaces  at  each  end  were  filled  with 
stalls  and  galleries  for  the  ladies  and  noble  spectators. 
The  tilting  was  generally  with  lances,  on  the  points  of 
which  were  fixed  pieces  of  wood  called  "  rockets "  ;  and 
the  great  object  with  each  knight  was  to  unhorse  his  an- 
tagonist. When  the  heralds  cried,  " Laissez  aller"  (Let 
them  go),  off  they  dashed  from  opposite  ends  of  the  lists 
and  met  in  the  center.  When  one  of  the  knights  had  un- 
horsed his  opponent  he  came  forward,  amid  the  blare  of 
martial  music,  and  the  shouts  of  "  Honor  to  the  sons  of  the 
brave  !  "  from  the  lips  of  the  minstrels,  to  receive  the  prize 
from  his  queen  or  his  mistress.  From  the  descriptions  of 
these  scenes  that  we  read  in  the  pages  of  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
or  of  the  old  chronicler  Frois'sart,   it  is  evident   that   the 


270  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY. 

tourney  must  have  surpassed  every  scenic  performance  of 
modern  times. 

152.  The  question  as  to  the  influence  of  chivalry  is  one 
Good  side  of  respecting  which  there  have  been  conflicting 
chivalry.  opinions.       In   many   respects   this  influence 

must  have  been  good  and  ennobling,  for  the  ideal  of  chivalry 
was  lofty  and  pure  and  generous.  Valor,  loyalty,  courtesy, 
munificence,  and  a  hatred  of  injustice  formed  collectively 
the  character  of  an  accomplished  knight.  If  these  virtues 
were  active  among  men,  they  could  not  help  bearing  beau- 
tiful fruits.  And  there  is  no  doubt  they  were  active,  and 
that  some  of  the  noblest  characters  of  the  Middle  Ages 
were  nursed  by  the  ideas  of  chivalry.  Those  ideas  soft- 
ened warfare  in  a  barbarous  age,  by  inculcating  humanity 
and  courtesy  to  enemies ;  at  a  time  when  the  obligations  of 
honor  were  feebly  felt,  they  taught  a  scrupulous  adherence 
to  one's  word  and  to  all  engagements  ;  and  they  helped  ele- 
vate woman  to  her  proper  place  as  the  equal  and  companion 
of  man,  by  making  her  the  object  of  chivalrous  attention. 

153-  Still,  no  institution  can  radically  change  human 
^  .,    .^  nature  :  and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  there 

Evil  side.  ;  ,      .    ,  , 

were  those  who  were  not  true  knights,  that 
gallantry  often  degenerated  into  licentiousness,  that  a  per- 
nicious thirst  for  military  renown  was  nourished  by  chiv- 
alry, and  that  the  wholesome  sense  of  honor  finally  degen- 
erated into  mere  punctilio  and  fantastic  notions,  the  result 
of  which  long  lingered  in  the  practice  of  the  duello. 

154.  The  instituiion  of  chivalry  declined  with  feudalism. 
Gunpowder,  of  which  it  was  largely  a  product.  The  com- 
effect  o:.  plete  change  in  the  mode  of  warfare  effected 

by  the  invention  of  gunpowder,  put  the  knight  at  great  dis- 
advantage. Armor  of  proof  might  be  forged  that  would 
withstand  the  Swiss  broadsword  or  the  ell-long  arrows  of 
the  English  bowmen,  but  what  coat  of  mail  could  resist  the 
cannon-ball?  Battles  were  now  to  be  fought  chiefly  at  a 
distance,  no  longer  hand  to  hand. 


CHIVALRY,  —  ITS  RISE  AND  DECAY. 


271 


155.  Bayard,  who  fell  in  France  in  A.  D.   1524,  and  was 
known   as   the   chevalier   "  sans  peur  et  sans   Last  of  the 
reproche"  (fearless  and  blameless),  was  almost   •'^^ehts. 

the  last  of  the  knights  of  that  knightly  land.  In  England,v/ 
chivalry  lasted  till  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  and  we  cannot 
help  thinking  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney  as  a  bright  example  of 
the  noble  knight.  In  Spain  it  went  out  at  the  same  period, 
amid  the  inextinguishable  laughter  excited  by  Cervan'tes's 
burlesque  of  chivalry  in  the  immortal  romance  of  Don 
Quixote. 

156.  Still,  it  is  certain  that,  while  the  institution  perished, 
the  spirit  of  chivalry,  its  finest  essence,  lived.    Permanent 
From  the  knight  of  the  Middle  Ages  grew  the   chivalry, 
gentleman  of  modern  days,  the  elements  of  each  remaining^ 
the  same.     This  is  a  character  new  in  history.     Antiquity 
produced  heroes,  but  not  gentlemen ;    so  it  may  be  said  we 
owe  the  noblest  human  type  the  world  has  ever  seen,  — 
that  type  of  man  in  which  are  richly  blended  a  sense  of 
personal  honor,  generosity,  courtesy,  and  Christian  tender- 
ness and  helpfulness,  —  to  the  same  influences  which  shaped 
chivalry  in  the  period  of  the  Middle  Ages. 


Sis  bonts  are  trust, 

3^10  gooU  stoorlJ  rast: 

3^is  soul  is  toiti}  tf)c  saints  fof  trust. 


272  MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

CIVILIZATION    IN    THE    MIDDLE   AGES. 
I.     THE  DARK   AGES. 

157.  Of  the  long  period  of  a  thousand  years  comprised 

in  the  limits  of  the  Middle  Ages,  —  from  the 

Dark  Ages 

close  of  the  5th  to  the  close  of  the  15th  cen- 
tury,—  the  first  six  centuries,  from  the  close  of  the  5  th  to 
the  close  of  the  nth  century,  are  nearly  barren  of  interest, 
and  the  term  "  Dark  Ages  "  is  appropriately  used  to  desig- 
nate these  centuries. 

158.  It  is  a  strange  and  melancholy  spectacle  to  see 
Cause  of  the  civilization,  after  attaining  so  considerable  a 
relapse.  height  in  the  Roman  Empire,  fall  back  into 
barbarism.  This  relapse  has  sometimes  been  laid  to  the 
door  of  the  barbarous  races  that  overthrew  the  Empire ;  but 
it  was  not  due  wholly  to  this  influence.  For  two  or  three 
centuries  before  the  structure  of  Roman  civilization  finally 
fell,  the  foundations  were  undergoing  gradual  but  irre- 
trievable decay ;  and  the  edifice  would  have  come  to  the 
ground  of  itself,  even  had  no  barbarian  hand  assailed  it. 
In  the  latter  ages  of  the  Roman  Empire  w  find  a  general 
indifference  towards  the  cultivation  of  letteis.  As  a  natu- 
ral result,  original  and  powerful  works  ceased  to  be  pro- 
duced. The  final  settlement  of  the  uncultured  Teutonic 
nations  in  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Italy  completed  the  ruin  of 
literature.  They  despised  learning  themselves ;  and  the 
native  Roman  and  Latinized  inhabitants  of  those  countries 
soon  sank  to  the  level  of  the  barbarians. 

159.  A  main  cause  of  this  loss  of  culture  was  a  change 
Cause  of  loss  that  was  at  this  time  going  on  in  the  languages 
of  culture,         spoken  by  the  people  of  Western  Europe.     In 


THE  DARK  AGES.  273 


the  two  or  three  centuries  succeeding  the  Teutonic  con- 
quests there  was  a  gradual  breaking  up  of  the  structure 
of  the  Latin  speech  as  spoken  in  Italy,  Spain,  and  Gaul. 
The  Teutonic  conquerors,  ni  order  to  communicate  with  the 
people  in  these  countries,  had  to  learn  Latin,  but  in  learn- 
ing it  they  still  further  corrupted  it.  Thus  the  common 
language  of  those  lands  was  a  sort  of  broken  Latin,  which 
was  called  Romafi,  while  classical  Latin  was  still  written  by 
scholars.  The  process  of  change  went  further,  however : 
differences  of  dialect  arose  in  the  several  countries,  and 
Roman  developed  into  Italian,  French,  and  Spanish. 

160.  When  Latin  had  ceased  to  be   a  living  language, 
the  whole  treasury  of  knowledge  was  locked   Result  of 

up  from  the  people.  Those  who  might  have  'Change, 
imbibed  a  taste  for  culture  if  books  had  been  open  to  them 
were  left  destitute.  All  books  were  in  Latin,  which  they 
did  not  understand,  while  in  the  language  they  did  under- 
stand there  were  no  books.  To  be  sure,  a  knowledge  of 
Latin  did  not  wholly  die  out.  It  was  still  taught  in  schools ; 
but  these  schools  were  confined  to  cathedrals  and  monas- 
teries, and  designed  solely  for  religious  education,  so  that 
the  people  in  general  had  no  opportunity  for  learning. 

161.  The  worst  effect  was,  that,   as  the  newly  formed 
languages  were  hardly  made  use  of  in  writing, 

—  Latin  being  still  the  official  language  of 
public  documents,  legal  papers,  etc.,  —  the  y&ry  nse  of  letters, 
as  well  as  of  books,  was  nearly  forgotten.  It  was  rare  for  a 
layman,  of  whatever  rank,  to  know  how  to  sign  his  name. 
The  charters  were  inscribed  with  the  mark  of  the  cross. 
In  this  state  of  things,  whatever  learning  existed  was  in 
the  keeping  of  the  clergy  ;  but,  according  to  the  records  of 
the  Church  and  of  the  councils,  this  was  far  from  extensive. 

162.  A  chief  cause  of  this  general  ignorance  was  tha 
scarcity  of  books.     The  art  of  making  paper   scarcity  of 
from  cotton  rags  was  not  introduced  till  about  '"'°''^- 

12*  R 


274  MEDIJSiVAL   HISTORY. 

the  close  of  the  nth  century.  Previous  to  this  the  two  kinds 
of  writing  material  were  papyrus  and  parchment.  But  after 
the  conquest  of  Alexandria  by  the  Saracens  in  the  7th  cen- 
tury, papyrus  almost  ceased  to  be  imported  into  Europe  , 
while  parchment  was  too  costly  to  be  readily  spared  for 
book  purposes.* 

163.  During  the  five  centuries  of  the  Dark  Ages,  we  find 

but  few  names  of  really  eminent  men.  Bede, 
the  Englishman,  known  as  the  "Venerable 
Bede  "  (born  about  A.  d.  673),  and  Alcuin,  another  English- 
man, already  mentioned  as  the  teacher  and  friend  of  Charle- 
magne, were  men  rather  of  learning  than  of  genius.  John, 
surnamed  Sco'tus  or  Erige'na,  a  native  of  Ireland,  belonging 
to  the  9th  century,  and  Pope  Sylvester,  who  lived  in  the 
loth  century,  were  the  two  really  original  thinkers  during 
this  long  period.  The  former  was  a  bold  and  acute  reasoner, 
the  latter  an  excellent  mathematician. 

164.  These  centuries  have  been  called  the  Ages  of  Faith  ; 

but  they  were  quite  as  much  ages  of  supersti- 
"^  '^  '  *  "  tion.  A  curious  illustration  of  the  wild  fancies 
that  took  possession  of  men's  minds  in  these  times  of  igno- 
rance was  a  general  belief,  which  arose  in  the  loth  century, 
that  the  world  would  come  to  an  end  in  the  year  1000  a.  d. 
Many  charters  begin  with  these  words,  "  As  the  world  is 
now  drawing  to  its  close."  Another  superstition  was  the 
notion  that  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  a  person  could  be  de- 
termined by  what  was  called  the  ordeal  These  ordeals,  or 
trials,  consisted  of  handling  hot  iron,  walking  over  red-hot 
plowshares,  plunging  the  arm  into  boiling  fluids,  etc.  If 
the  person  was  innocent,  no  harm,  it  was  said,  came  to  him. 

*  From  this  dearness  of  parchment  a  curious  practice  arose  :  the 
monks  in  the  monasteries  would  erase  a  manuscript,  and  write  another 
on  the  same  skin.  Such  writings  are  known  as  paPimpsests  (twice  writ- 
ten). This  practice  occasioned  the  loss  of  many  ancient  authors,  as  the 
"legend  of  a  saint  would  often  take  the  place  of  a  work  of  the  classic  age. 


THE  DARK  AGES.  275 

Even  a  man  as  enlightened  as  Charlemagne  was  a  warm 
advocate  of  the  ordeal. 

165.  It  is  not  wonderful  that  in  this  state  of  affairs  the 
human  intellect  became  enfeebled,  that  morals  picture  of  the 
were  corrupted,   and    that  society  in  general   ^^e. 

sank  to  a  low  level.  Agriculture  was  in  a  miserably  back- 
ward condition.  There  is  not  a  vestige  to  be  discovered 
for  several  centuries  of  any  considerable  manufacture. 
Everything  had  to  be  made  on  the  place,  and  even  kings,  m 
the  9th  century,  had  their  clothes  made  by  the  women  upon 
their  farms.  To  traffic  there  were  great  obstacles ;  for  in 
the  lawless  state  of  society  a  merchant  ran  constant  risk  of 
being  robbed,  while  in  the  domains  of  every  feudal  lord  a 
toll  was  to  be  paid  in  passing  his  bridge,  or  along  his  high- 
way, or  at  his  market.  In  Germany  especially  unscrupulous 
robbery  was  practiced  by  the  great,  who,  from  their  gloomy 
and  inaccessible  castles,  issued  forth  to  harry  the  land  and 
spread  terror  over  the  country. 

166.  If  it  be  asked  how  it  happened  that  a  few  sparks  of 
ancient  learning  survived  throughout  this  long  influence  of 
winter,  we  can  ascribe  their  preservation  only  to  ^^^  church. 
Christianity.  The  Church  was  the  bridge  across  the  chaos, 
and  linked  the  two  periods  of  ancient  and  modern  civiliza- 
tion. We  cannot  fairly  rate  the  knowledge  of  the  clergy  high 
during  the  Dark  Ages  ;  but,  such  as  it  was,  clerical  culture 
alone  kept  Europe  from  lapsing  into  intellectual  barbarism. 

167.  In  the  good  work  of  the  Church  the  most  active 
agents  were  the  monks.     Monachism,  or  the 

°       .  ,         .   .  ,.  1  ,         The  monks. 

practice  of  retirmg  to  a  solitary  and  contempla- 
tive life,  took  its  rise  in  the  East.    At  first  monks  were  gen- 
erally laymen,  but  in  time  they  all  belonged  to  the  priestly 
order,  and  came  under  certain  vows. 

168.  The  monastic  system  was  introduced  into  Western 
Europe  early  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  The  secedic 
Church  ;  but  it  received  its  perfect  form  in  the  **"^^- 


276 


MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 


6th  century,  at  the  hands  of  St.  Ben'edict,  an  Itahan,  who 
established  the  first  monastery  on  Mount  Cassi'no,  in  Lower 

Italy.  He  was  thus  the 
founder  of  the  widely 
spread  order  of  Bene- 
dictines, which  rap- 
idly extended  itself 
among  all  nations, 
and  built  many  mon- 
asteries. The  rule  of 
this  order  included 
the  novel  feature  of 
industrial  occupation. 
Agriculture  was  espe- 
cially recommended  ; 
and  in  the  Middle 
Ages  the  Benedictine 
monks  were  the  best 
husbandmen  in  Eu- 
rope. The  monas- 
teries —  erected  for  the  most  part  in  beautiful  and  remote 
situations,  and  the  inhabitants  of  which  were  obliged  to  take 
the  three  vows  of  celibacy,  personal  poverty,  and  obedience 
—  proved,  in  those  daj'^s  of  lawlessness  and  barbarism,  a 
blessing  to  mankind.  Thev  converted  heaths  and  forests  into 
flourishing  farms  ;  they  afforded  a  place  of  refuge  (asylum) 
to  the  persecuted  and  oppressed ;  they  ennobled  the  rude 
minds  of  men  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel ;  they  pre- 
served the  remains  of  ancient  literature  from  utter  destruc- 
tion, and  were  the  nurseries  of  education  and  of  learning. 


==S^;rr,      -^ — 


Monastery  Gatb, 


a.     THE   AGE   OF    REVIVAL.  — CITIES   AND    COMMERCE. 

169.    From   the   state   of   degradation    and   poverty  de- 
scribed in  the  last  section  all  the  European  nations  grad 


I 


THE  AGE   OF  REVIVAL.  2/7 

ually  recovered,  —  some  slowly,  others  more  rapidly.  The 
commencement  of  this  restoration  may  be  General  state- 
dated  from  about  the  close  of  the  nth  cen-  '"s"'. 
tury.  We  cannot  apply  the  term  "  Dark  Ages  "  to  the 
period  between  the  nth  and  the  15th  centuries,  —  for  at 
this  time  we  see  the  shadows  grow  fainter  as  we  advance, 
till  finally  the  twilight  reddens  into  our  modern  dawn. 

170.  One  of  the  first  signs  of  advancing  civilization,  and 
also  one  of  the  great  agencies  of  further  pro-   Growth  of 
gress,  was  the  growing  up  of  Towns  to  a  posi-  5?54:ds. 

tion  of  prime  importance.  Cities  are  always  the  centers  of 
civihzation.  In  the  old  Greek  and  Roman  times  the  towns 
had,  so  to  speak,  been  everything.  But  the  Goths,  Franks, 
and  other  Teutonic  invaders  were  not  used  to  cities,  and 
even  those  that  had  arisen  in  Central  Europe,  under  Roman 
influence,  declined  very  much  after  the  German  settlement, 
and  lost  much  of  their  importance  and  local  freedom. 
However,  as  civilization  began  to  revive,  new  towns  arose, 
especially  in  Germany  and  Italy,  and  the  old  towns  won 
back  something  of  their  former  greatness.* 

171.  The  real  importance  of  these  German  towns  is  to 
be  dated  from  their  famous  union  in  what  is 

called  the  Hanseatic  League.     This  was  a  con- 

*  In  Germany,  till  the  reign  of  Charlemagne,  at  the  close  of  the  8th  cen- 
tury, there  were  no  towns  except  a  few  that  had  been  erected  on  the 
Rhine  and  Danube  by  the  Romans.  During  the  next  three  hundred 
years,  however,  we  find  many  cities  arising.  At  the  commencement  of 
the  I2th  century,  Henry  V.  conceded  certain  privileges  to  the  free  cities, 
and  especially  to  their  artisans,  and  these  gave  a  soul  to  industry.  The 
first  town  erected  on  the  coasts  of  the  Baltic  was  Lubeck  (a.d.  1140).  In 
the  13th  century  it  became  independent  of  any  sovereign  but  the  Ger- 
man Emperor.  Ham'burg  was  originally  a  castle  (Ham'maburg)  built 
by  Charlemagne  for  defense  against  the  Norsemen.  It  purchased  inde- 
pendence of  its  bishop  in  1225.  Bremen  dates  from  about  this  period. 
A  colony  from  Bremen  founded  Riga  in  the  12th  century;  Dant'zic  arose 
in  the  following  century- 


278  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY. 

feaeranon,  made  about  the  middle  of  the  13th  century,  ot 
eighty  of  the  most  considerable  German  cities.  The  union 
was  suggested  by  the  need  of  mutual  defense  against  piracy 
by  sea,  pillage  by  land,  and  the  exactions  of  the  nobles.  It 
was  of  the  greatest  importance  both  to  commerce  and  to 
freedom. 

172.  In  Italy,  the  cities  rose  to  greatness  even  earlier 
Italian  free  than  in  Germany.  This  was  particularly  the 
*^'*'^^-  case  in  Northern  Italy,  that  is,  Lombardy. 
There  from  the  nth  century  the  towns  became  every- 
thing. Though  nominally  under  the  dominion  of  the  Ger- 
man emperors,  they  gradually  grew  strong,  while  the  power 
of  the  emperors  declined.  What  is  called  the  Lombard 
League  was  formed  in  1167  ;  and  the  peace  of  Constance, 
in  1 183,  secured  the  independence  of  the  cities.  The 
great  city-republics  of  Venice,  Gen'oa,  etc.,  date  from  this 
period. 

173.  With  the  growth  of  the  towns,  industries  of  various 
Wool  manu-  kinds  began  to  spring  up,  and  trade  and  com- 
facture.  merce  to  spread  and  flourish.  One  of  the 
earliest  industries  was  the  woolen  manufacture  of  Flanders. 
This  had  grown  to  great  importance  in  the  12th  century, 
and  the  "  Flemish  stuffs  "  were  sold  wherever  the  sea  or  a 
navigable  river  permitted  them  to  be  carried.  Ghent  and 
Bru'ges  were  the  chief  seats  of  this  industry,  and  the  weav- 
ers of  these  cities  were  distinguished  for  their  democratic 
spirit. 

174.  In  England,  commerce,  for  two  centuries  after  the 
English  com-  Norman  conquest,  —  middle  of  the  nth  to  the 
merce.  middle  of  the  13th  century,  —  was  almost  con- 
fined to  the  export  of  wool,  then  the  great  staple  of  that 
country.  But  in  the  next  century  Edward  III.,  the  father 
of  English  commerce,  introduced  the  finer  manufacture  of 
woolen  cloths,  by  bringing  large  numbers  of  artisans  from 
Flanders.      From   about  the  middle  of  the   14th  century 


THE  AGE   OF  REVIVAL  2/9 

we  find  continual  evidence  of  a  rapid  increase  in  wealth, 
and  at  this  period,  for  the  first  time  in  English  history, 
the  occupation  of  a  merchant  began  to  be  recognized  as 
honorable. 

175-  The  commerce  of  the  South  of  Europe  was  through 
the  city-republics  of  Venice,  Amal'fi,  Pi'sa,  and  naiian  com- 
Genoa.  It  was  chiefly  with  the  Saracenic  '"^'■c=- 
countries  before  the  first  Crusade  ;  but  the  Crusades  them- 
selves led  immediately  to  the  growing  prosperity  of  the  com- 
mercial cities  of  Southern  Europe,  and  opened  an  extensive 
trade  with  the  Levant'.  In  Southern  France,  Marseilles', 
Nismes,  and  Montpel'ier,  and  in  Spain,  Barcelo'na,  had  a 
flourishing  commerce. 

176.  The  earliest  impulse  to  manufacturing  industry  in 
Italy  was  given  by  the  introduction  of  a  silk  siik  manufac- 
manufacture  at  Paler'mo  by  Roger  Guiscard,  in   *"''^- 

1 148.  Silk  became  very  soon  a  staple  manufacture  of  the 
Lombard  and  Tuscan  republics,  and  the  cultivation  of  mul- 
berries was  enforced  by  their  laws.  The  same  industry 
soon  spread  into  Southern  France  and  Catalo'nia  (in  Spain), 
where  it  flourished  greatly. 

177.  The  needs  of  an  enlarging  commerce  eventually  led 
to  the  organization  of  moneyed  institutions,  xhe  jews  and 
By  most  people  in  the  Middle  Ages  lending  '"°"ey- 
money  for  profit  was  treated  as  a  crime.  The  trade,  in 
fact,  was  at  first  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Jews,  who  were  V" 
long  the  objects  of  cruel  persecution,  being  maltreated  and 
swindled  to  an  almost  incredible  extent. 

178.  In  the  13th  century  the  trade  in  money  was  taken 
up  by  the  merchants  of  Lombardy  and  of  the  xhe  Lombard 
South  of  France,  who  began  the  business  of  bankers, 
remitting  money  on  bills  of  exchange,  and  of  making  profits 
on  loans.  In  spite  of  much  prejudice  the  Lombard  "  usu- 
rers," as  they  were  called,  established  themselves  in  all  the 
chief  commercial  centers  of  Europe,  and,  as  the  practical 


280  MEDIMVAL  HISTORY. 

Utility  of  their  business  was  found  very  great,  good  sense 
finally  overcame  ancient  prejudices.* 

lyg.    The  growing  wealth  of  Europe  led  to  a  consider- 
able diffusion  of  comforts  among  the  people. 

Comforts.  _,  .       .  ,    i  i  •         i  i 

Ihis  IS  proved  by  the  enactment,  in  the  14th 
century,  of  what  are  called  "  sumptuary  laws,"  —  that  is, 
laws  designed  to  restrict  men  in  regard  to  what  they  shall 
eat,  wear,  etc. 

180.  It  may  also  be  noticed  that  at  this  same  period  the 

houses  people  lived  in  began  to  be  of  a  better 

Houses.  ,  ,      f  , 

sort,  though  for  several  centuries  after  this 
they  were  what  we  should  regard  as  very  indifferent  habi- 
tations. Still,  it  is  something  that  at  this  time  chimneys 
and  window-glass  were  introduced.  Chimneys  were  wholly 
unknown  to  the  ancients,  who  had  to  let  the  smoke  escape 
through  an  opening  in  the  roof.  They  came  into  use  in 
the  14th  century,  as  did  also  window-glass.  The  internal 
accommodations  were,  however,  yet  very  imperfect.  Even 
in  gentlemen's  houses,  the  second  story  (where  there  was 
one)  was  approached  from  the  outside,  the  walls  were 
bare,  without  wainscot  or  plaster,  and  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  say  that  neither  pictures  nor  libraries  were  to  be  found 
in  them. 

3.    LITERATURE,   SCIENCE,   AND   ART. 

181.  The  low  condition  to  which  the  European  mind 

had  sunk  in  the  Dark  Ages,  as  regards  every- 
thing relating  to  literature   and  science,  has 
been  spoken  of  in  a  previous  chapter.     One  of  the  earliest 
signs  of  the  reviving  spirit  was  the  establishment  of  uni- 
versities. 

*  The  earliest  bank  of  deposit  is  said  to  have  been  that  of  Barcelona, 
\  founded  1401.     The  bank  of  Genoa  was  established  in  1407,  and  soon 
grew  to  be  a  great  power. 


LITERATURE,   SCIENCE,   AND  ART.  28 1 

The  University  of  Paris  first  became  famous,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
I2th  century,  under  the  teachings  of  Ab'elard,  a  man  of  bold  and  brilliant 
genius.  The  University  of  Oxford  in  England  is  said  to  have  been 
founded  by  King  Alfred  (9th  century),  but  it  was  not  really  a  flourishing 
seat  of  learning  till  the  nth  century.  In  the  year  a.  d.  1201  it  contained 
3,000  scholars.  In  the  12th  century  we  find  the  University  of  Bologn'a 
with  a  roll  of  10,000  students,  while  the  University  of  Paris,  in  the  15th 
century,  numbered  25,000  students.  Cambridge  was  founded  in  the 
13th  century.  The  earliest  German  university  was  that  of  Prague, 
founded  in  1350.  Other  famous  mediaeval  schools  of  learning  were 
Pad'ua,  Toulouse,  Montpelier,  and  Salaman'ca. 

182.  The  chief  attraction  that  drew  the  crowds  of  students 
to  the  universities,  after  a  long  season  of  utter  ,srh"''"'^i'- 
indifference  to  learning,  was  the  rise  of  the  new  pJlii?52Phy- 
"scholastic  philosophy"  in  the   nth  and   12th  centuries.     "^ 
The  chief  feature  of  this  was  the  application  of  the  art  of 
dialectics  to  subtle  questions  of  metaphysics  and  theology. 

183.  The  great  masters  of  this  art  are  known  collectively 
as  the  Schoolmen  ;  and  it  attained  its  highest  xhe  school- 
perfection,  in  the  13th  century,  in  the  persons   '"^"■ 

of   Thomas   Aqui'nas    and    Duns    Scotus.      Other  famous 
schoolmen  were  Roscelin,  Anselm,  and  Peter  Lombard. 

184.  Many  of  the  questions  which  the  schoolmen  dis- 
cussed with  great  interest  now  seem  very  frivo-   Nature  and 

,  r"         ,  .  .        ■'  effect  of  the 

lous,  —  as,  tor  mstance,  the  question  as  to  philosophy. 
"how  many  angels  can  stand  on  the  point  of  a  needle,"  and 
whether  "  an  angel  in  passing  from  one  point  to  another 
passes  through  intermediate  space."  But,  in  spite  of  some 
frivolities  of  this  kind,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  scholastic 
philosophy  developed  acute  intellects,  and  prepared  the  way 
for  the  fruitful  inquiries  of  the  i6th  and  17th  centuries. 

185.  While  the  schoolmen  were  devoting  themselves  to 
subtle  points  of  theology  and  metaphysics,  a 

tew  mmds  were  beginning  to  investigate  math- 
ematical and  scientific  questions.     Among  the  greatest  ot 
these  may  be  mentioned  Roger  Bacon,  an  English  monk, 


v^ 


282 


MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 


and  Albertus  Magnus,  both  of  whom  lived  in  the  13th  cen- 
tury. For  the  times  in  which  they  Uved  these  men  made 
wonderful  advances  in  true  knowledge ;  and  each  had  to  pay 
the  penalty  of  being  in  advance  of  his  age,  for  both  Bacon 
and  Albertus  were  punished  as  magicians. 

186.    One  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  the  Intel- 
Saracenic  Icctual  history  of  Europc  during  the   Middle 

learning.  Agcs  IS  that  of  the  Arabian  contributions  to 

science.  The  Saracens  instituted  universities,  observatories, 
public  libraries,  and  museums ;  they  collected  together  all 
the  remains  of  Greek  and  Alexandrine  learning,  and  through 
their  medium  the  greater  number  of  Greek  and  Latin  authors 
which  were  read  during  the  Middle  Ages  were  known  to 
Europe.  It  may  also  be  noted  that  a  noble  order  of  archi- 
tecture, of  which  the  Alhambra  presents  us  a  fine  specimen, 
was  created  by  them. 


Court  ok  Lions,  Alhambra. 


LITERATURE,   SCIENCE,   AND  ART.  283 

187.  In  the  loth  century  we  hear  of   Spain,  under  the 
Saracens,  as  a  center  of  learning: ;   and  it  is   Saracenic 

1  1  1       1      r  I  •    •  f  schools  m 

there  that  we  must  look  for  the  origin  of  sev-  Spain, 
eral  sciences  that  have  commonly  been  attributed  to  other 
nations.  It  is  from  them  that  we  received  our  mode  of 
notation,  called  the  Arabic  figures  ;  and  the  terms  "  algebra," 
"  alcohol,"  "  alchemy,"  "  zenith,"  "  nadir,"  etc.,  all  of  which 
are  Arabic,  attest  the  influence  of  that  remarkable  people  on 
the  science  of  the  Middle  Ages.  It  is  well  known  that  to 
the  researches  of  the  Saracenic  alchemists  we  owe  the 
beginnings  of  chemistry,  —  a  science  which  the  Arabians .  .^ 
cultivated  with  success ;  and  the  first  work  on  the  subject 
with  which  we  are  acquainted  was  written  by  Yeber-Abou- 
Moussah-Djafer-al-Sofi,  whom  we  call  Geber,  an  Arab  of 
the  8th  century. 

188.  It  must  be  remembered  that  all  the  writings  of  the 
churchmen  were  in  Latin.  But  literature,  to  Growth  of  na- 
become  a  real  national  power,  must  come  from  ^'"^  literature, 
the  people.  Hence  it  is  of  importance  to  know  when  a 
native  literature  began  to  spring  up  in  the  various  European 
nations.  We  may  say,  in  a  general  way,  that  there  began  ^'^ 
to  be  works  written  in  the  new  Roinance  tongues,  —  the 
Italian,  French,  Spanish,  —  and  also  in  the  German,  about 
the  time  of  the  Crusades  and  immediately  thereafter.  It 
was  at  this  time  that  the  Troubadours  and  Minnesingers 
arose  to  celebrate  the  deeds  of  knights,  battles,  adventures, 
and  love.  The  German  collection  known  as  the  Nibelmigen 
Lied.,  the  Spanish  romance  of  the  DV/,  and  the  cycle  of  poetry 
relating  to  the  British  Arthur  and  his  Knights  of  the  Round 
Table,  are  among  the  most  famous  collections  of  the  heroic 
poetry  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

189.  These  earlier  preludings  were  in  the  13th  and  14th 
centuries  followed  by  some  true  outbursts  of   Dante  and 

the  highest  form  of  poetry,  —  the  real  begin-   Chaucer.  ^ 

xiings  of  our  modern  literature.     In  the   13th  century  we 


284  MEDIAEVAL  HISTORY. 

have  in  Italy,  Dante  (born  a.  d.  1265),  whose  Divina  Corn- 
media  is  one  of  the  great  world-books  ;  and  in  the  14th  cen- 
'^tury  our  own  English  Chaucer  (born  a.  d.  1328),  who  is  still 
'accounted  one  of  England's  five  greatest  poets. 

190.  The   characteristic   art   of   the    Middle   Ages   was 

architecture,  —  especially     the      building     of 

Architecture.  ^  \.  j  o 

cathedrals.  The  Gothic  cathedral  is  the  high- 
est expression  of  the  blended  faith  and  genius  of  that  age. 
The  nth  century  was  a  time  of  great  splendor  in  building 
churches.  They  were,  however,  still  built  in  the  round- 
arched.,  or  what  is  called  Romanesque,  style. 

191.  The  use  of  the  pointed  arch  and  what  is  called  the 
Gothic  cathe-  Gothic  Style  did  not  come  in  till  near  the  end 
*^''^'^-  of  the  1 2th  century.  Originating  in  Northern 
France,  the  Gothic  style  of  sacred  architecture  soon  spread 
over  all  Europe,  and  during  the  13th  and  14th  centuries  it 
attained  its  highest  perfection.  Many  of  the  grandest  edi- 
fices occupied  from  one  to  two  centuries  in  building.  With 
their  heaven-piercing  spires,  their  noble  arches,  their  elabo- 
rate sculptures  and  traceries,  and  their  great  mullioned  win- 
dows, on  whose  "  storied  panes  "  the  whole  history  of  the 
Bible  is  written  in  the  hues  of  the  rainbow  by  the  earnest 
hand  of  faith,  they  remain  to  this  day  the  most  sublime 
structures  ever  reared  by  the  hand  of  man. 

192.  We  have  said  that  architecture  was  the  character- 
.  Painting  and  istic  art  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Painting,  though 
I  music.  j^  began  in  that  period,  did  not  reach  full 
'  development  till  the  i6th  and  17th  centuries,  while  music 

belongs  to  a  date  still  closer  to  our  own  times. 


THE   GERMAN  EMPIRE.  2S5 


CHAPTER    IX. 
POLITICAL     OUTLINE. 

FROM  CHARLEMAGNE   TO   THE  CLOSE  OF   THE  Mr  DOLE  AGES. 
I.     THE   GERMAN   EMPIRE. 

193.  When  Charlemagne  died  (a.  d.  8x4),  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his   son    Louis,   who   divided   the  Division  of 

T-,         i-'ii         ••  1  ^  •  Charlemagne  s 

Frankish  dominion  between  his  three  sons.  Empire. 
They  quarreled  violently,  but  the  Treaty  of  Verdun  (a.  d. 
843)  confirmed  the  partition.  Thus  out  of  Charlemagne's 
Empire  grew  three  states,  —  Germany,  France,  and  Italy. 
But  neither  of  these  countries  remained  long  under  rhe 
rule  of  the  descendants  of  Charlemagne. 

194.  The  Carlovingians  ruled  in  Germany  for  less  than 
a  century  after  Charlemagne's  death.  During  Germany 
this  time  the  chief  power  was  in  the  hands  Cariovingians. 
of  certain  great  dukes,  and  when  the  last  of  the  German 
Carlovingians  died  (a.  D.  911),  five  of  these  got  together 
and  chose  Duke  Conrad  of  Franconia  to  be  king ;  so  that 
Germany  became  an  elective  kingdom. 

195.  On  the  death  of  Conrad  the  Saxons  and  Franco- 
nians  united  in  placing  Henry,  a  Saxon  (called   pirst  line  of 
Henry  I.,  or  the  Fowler),  on  the  throne  (a.  d.   emperors. 
919);  and  he  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  five  Saxon  em- 
perors who  ruled  Germany  for  more  than  a  century,  and 
raised  it  to  be  the  greatest  power  in  Europe. 

196.  Henry  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Otho  the  Great 
Ca.  d.  Q'^6),   under  whom    took  place  a  very  Revival  of  the 

>  ^o    /'  ^  .      ,        ,      ,  -^     Western  Em- 

important   event,   namely,  the   revival   of  the   pire. 
A  Western    Empire   under    the    title   of   the    "  Holy   Roman 
Empire  of  the  German  nation."      This  took  place  when 


286  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY. 

Otho  married  Adelaide,  widow  of  Lothaire,  the  last  Car- 

lovingian  king  of  Italy :  receiving  the  iron  crown  of  Lom- 

bardy,  he  united  Upper  Italy  with  the  German  kingdom. 

Otho  was  consecrated  emperor  by  the  Pope  in  a.  d.  962. 

From  this  time  every  German  emperor  continued  to  re- 

t  ceive  a  triple  coronation,  —  as  King  of  Germany,  as  King 

I  of   Italy,  as   Emperor  of  the  West.     The  "  Empire "  was 

■  after  a  time  little  more  than  a  fiction,  but  it  was  a  fiction 

that  had  a  great  influence  on  political   affairs  throughout 

the  Middle  Ages.     The  Saxon  dynasty  went  on  in  three 

descendants  of  Otho,  till  a.  d.  1024,  when  a  line  of  Fran- 

oonian  emperors  begins. 

197.  The  Franconian  line  of  emperors  lasted  for  a  cen- 
Pranconian  tury  and  a  year.  The  first  was  Conrad  II.,  a.  d. 
emperors.  1024.  The  chicf  cvcut  of  his  reign  was  that 
the  Kingdom  of  Burgundy  was  united  to  the  Empire.  Con- 
rad's son,  Henry  III.  (a.  d.  1039),  was  one  of  the  greatest 
of  all  the  emperors.  It  was  in  his  time  that  the  Empire 
came  to  have  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  election  of  the 
popes,  for  Henry  III.  took  this  matter  into  his  own  hands. 
Under  the  next  emperor,  Henry  IV.  (a.  d.  1056),  the 
troubles  between  the  popes  and  the  emperors  grew  to  a 
great  height,  and  we  have  seen  that  Pope  Gregory  VII. 
forced  Henry  IV.  to  beg  his  pardon.  Henry  V.  had 
nearly  the  same  disputes  with  the  popes.  As  this  emperor 
had  no  son,  the  Franconian  line  ended  A.  D.  1125. 

198.  After  Lothaire  of  Saxony  had  held  the  imperial 
Events  under    crown  for  twelve  ycars,  it  passed  to  one  of 

the  Suabian  .        ...  ^  ^  ,     i  i     •         i 

emperors.  the  greatest  families   that   ever   held   it,  that 

of  the  Hohenstaufen,  or  Dukes  of  Suabia.  The  first  of  this 
line  was  Conrad  III.,  who  reigned  as  king  of  Germany, 
but  who  was  never  crowned  emperor.  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa,  his  nephew,  was  elected  to  succeed  him,  and  he 
was  crowned  emperor  a.  D.  1155.  The  greater  part  of 
his  reign  was  taken  up  with  a  struggle  with  the  Lombard 


FRANCE.  287 

cities  of  Northern  Italy,  which  claimed  to  be  independent. 
The  cities  triumphed  in  the  end,  and  by  the  Peace  of 
Constance,  a.  d.  1183,  acquired  the  right  to  govern  them- 
selves. Under  Frederick's  successor,  Henry  VI.,  the  king- 
dom of  Sicily  was  conquered,  and  united  with  the  Empire, 
Thus  under  the  next  emperor,  Frederick  II.,  were  joined 
together  the  crowns  of  Germany,  Italy,  and  Sicily. 

199.  A  period  of  confusion  followed  the  death  of  Fred- 
erick II.  (a.  d.  1254),  but  finally  Rudolf  I.  The  Empire 
wus  chosen  King  of  Germany,  and  with  him  Hapsburgs. 
began  a  new  line  of  rulers,  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  or  of 
Austria.  Rudolf  was  never  crowned  emperor,  and  indeed 
his  successors,  though  they  were  still  called  E?fiperors  of  the 
Romans,  were  really  very  little  more  than  kings  of  Germany. 
Even  in  Germany  their  authority  was  always  growing  less, 
while  the  princes  in  Germany  greatly  enlarged  their  own 
powers.  Then  followed  other  kings  on  whom  we  need  not 
dwell,  till  we  come  to  Sig'ismund,  who  was  crowned  emperor. 
He  was  already  Margrave  of  Bran'denburg  and  King  of 
Hungary,  which  fact  might  make  it  appear  strange  that  he 
should  be  chosen  emperor ;  but  the  Empire  by  itself  was 
growing  so  weak  that  the  electors  thought  it  best  to  choose 
some  powerful  prince  who  had  possessions  outside  of  Ger- 
many. With  Albert  II.  came  in  the  Austrian  branch  of 
the  Hapsburg  line,  and  for  many  centuries,  though  the 
emperors  were  still  always  elected,  yet  the  electors  always 
chose  a  member  of  the  House  of  Austria.  The  long  reign 
of  Frederick  III.  (a.  d.  1440-  1493),  the  second  of  this 
house,  carries  us  through  the  Middle  Ages. 


2.    FRANCE, 

200.    The   real   beginning   of  what   we    understand    by 
France  was  in  the   loth  century.     When  Gaul    Real  begin- 
was  conquered  by  the   Franks,  it  became   a  France. 


288 


MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 


part  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Franks ;  while  under  Charle- 
magne it  was  a  part  of  his  extensive  Empire. 

201.  After  the  partition   of   Charlemagne's   Empire   by 
France  under     the   treaty  of   Verdun,  the  Carlovingian   line 

the  Carlovin-  ■'...'  .  ° 

gians.  went   on    rulmg   m    France ;    but    they  were 

feeble  kings,  and  the  powerful  Dukes  of  Francia,  Burgundy, 
Normandy,  etc.,  were  really  independent  sovereigns.  The 
Carlovingian  line  came  to  an  end  with  Louis  the  Sluggard ; 
and  then  in  the  confusion  one  of  the  great  dukes,  Hugh 
Capet  \ccip-ay'\  Duke  of  Francia^  made  himself  king  by 
right  of  manhood.  Thus  the  Duke  of  Francia  became 
King  of  France,  and  this  was  the  real  beginning  of  the 
kingdom  of  France,  a.  d.  987. 

202.  During  the  imbecile  rule  of  the  Carlovingians,  the 
northern  coast  of  France  was  invaded  by 
Scandinavian  bands  named  Norsemen.    These 

were  rude-handed  pirates  and  sea-rovers ;  their  galleys 
were  painted    to    represent    dragons,   their   banners   bore 


Normans  in 
France. 


Norse  Galley. 

the  figure  of  a  raven  •  they  were  worshipers  of  Thor 
and  Woden,  and  delighted  in  blood.  Under  Rollo  they 
appeared  in  the  Seine  (a.  d.  901),  and  made  themselves 
so  formidable  that   Charles  the  Simple  granted  them  the 


FRANCE. 


289 


piOvince  thenceforward  called  Normandy.  In  France  the 
Norsemen  became  Christianized,  and  their  name  was  soft- 
ened down  to  Normans. 

203.  The  Capetian  line  of  French  kings  continued  for 
nearly  three   centuries  and  a   half,  and  com-   capetian 
prised   fifteen  kings  whose  names   and  dates   '""e^- 

are  given  in  the  note  below  for  convenience  of  reference.* 

204.  The  first  of  this  line,  as  has  been  seen,  was  Hugh 
Capet.     His  descendants  for  many  generations   state  of 
were,  however,  kings  of   France  hardly  more   ^'■3"'==- 
than  in  name  ;  for  their  vassals,  the  great  dukes  and  counts, 
held  the  real  authority. 

205.  During   the   reign    of   the    third   king,    Henry   I., 
Duke  William  was  ruling  over  the  Duchy  of   Norman  con- 

"  •'  quest  of  £ng- 

Normandy.  William  laid  claim  to  the  crown  land, 
of  England,  and  he  invaded  and  conquered  that  land  a.  d. 
1066.  As  after  this  the  Norman  King  of  England  was 
Duke  of  Normandy,  England  and  France  were  brought 
into  sharp  rivalry,  and  a  great  part  of  the  history  of  France 
during  the  Middle  Ages  is  taken  up  with  the  hostilities  be- 
tween the  two  countries. 

206.  In  1 154  Henry  II.  of  England  began  to  rule.     He 
married  El'eanor,  the  divorced  wife  of  Louis   English  pos- 

■,r-r-r  r     T-.  *  1  l       •  r       1  SeSSiOHS    in 

VII.   of  France.      As  she  was  heiress  of  the   France. 
French  Province  of  Aquitaine',  the  English  king  held  really 
greater  possessions  in  France  than  did  the   French  king 
himself. 

207.  This   state   of   affairs   was   altered   by    Philip    II. 
(Philip   Augustus),   who   wrested   from    the   English  king, 


*  Hugh  Capet, 

A.  D. 

987 

Louis  VIL, 

A.   D. 

"37 

Philip  IV., 

A.  D. 
1285 

Robert, 

996 

Philip  n., 

1 180 

Louis  X., 

1314 

Henry  I., 

103  I 

Louis  VIII., 

1223 

John  I., 

I316 

Philip  I., 

1060 

Louis  IX., 

1226 

Philip  v.. 

I316 

Louis  VI., 

1 108 
13 

Philip  III., 

1270 

Charles  IV., 

1322 

290  MEDIAEVAL   HISTORY. 

John,  Normandy,  Maine,  and  other  possessions  in  Northern 
Their  recov-  France.  The  recovery  of  these  added  greatly 
ery  by  France,  ^q  ^y^^^  strength  of  France ;  and  the  wise  rule 
of  Louis  IX.  (Saint  Louis)  gave  her  increased  importance. 
Indeed,  France  at  this  time  began  to  be  a  great  nation,  and 
she  was  henceforth  reckoned  amongst  the  foremost  powers 
of  Europe. 

208.  The  last  of  the  Capetian  dynasty,  Charles  IV.,  died 
Kings  of  the      in  1^28,  leaving  no  male  issue.      The  crown 

House  of  Va-  "^       '         ,         *^     . 

lois.  now  passed  to   his   cousin,   Philip  of  Valois, 

with  whom  begins  the  House  of  Valois.*  This  dynasty 
ruled  for  more  than  two  and  a  half  centuries,  and  ended  with 
the  assassination  of  Henr}^  III.  (a.  d.  1589). 

209.  At  the  commencement  of  the  Valois  period  of 
Claims  of  French  history,  Edward  III.  was  King  of  Eng- 
Edward  III.  land.  As  his  mother  was  a  sister  of  the  late 
French  king,  Charles  IV.,  and  that  king  had  left  no  son, 
Edward  of  England  thought  he  should  have  the  crown 
of  France,  and  accordingly  he  fitted  out  a  great  armament 
by  sea  and  land  to  wrest  that  crown  from  Philip  of  Valois 
(Philip  VI.).  There  thus  began  a  great  war,  called  in 
French  history  the  Hundred  Years'  War. 

210.  The  most  famous  events  in  this  series  of  wars 
are:  — 

1.  Battle  of  Crecy  (a.  d.  1346)  :  English  victory. 

2.  Battle  of  Poitiers  (a.  d.  1356) :  English  victory.  [This  first  part  of 
the  war  was  ended  by  the  Peace  of  Breti^ny  (a.  D.  1360),  by  which 
the  English  king,  Edward,  gave  up  his  claim  to  the  crown  of  France, 
but  he  kept  his  possessions  in  Aquitaine,  together  with  Calais',  and 
that  no  longer  as  a  vassal,  but  as  an  independent  king.] 


Henry  II.,  1547 

Francis  II.,  1559 

Charles  IX.,  1560 

Henry  III.,  1574 


«  Philip  VL, 

A.  D. 
1328 

Louis  XL, 

A.  D. 
146 1 

John  II., 

1350 

Charles  VIIL 

,1483 

Charles  V., 

1364 

Louis  XII., 

1498 

Charles  VI., 

1380 

Francis  L, 

I5IS 

Charles  VII., 

1422 

ENGLAND.  29 1 

3.  Conquest  of  Aquitaine  by  the  French.  The  French  king,  Charles  V., 
broke  the  Peace  of  Bretigny,  and  wrested  from  the  English  nearly  all 
of  Aquitaine  except  the  cities  of  Bordeaux'  and  Bayonne'. 

4.  Renewal  of  the  war  by  the  English.  Henry  V.  of  England  took 
advantage  of  the  dissensions  by  which  Prance  was  torn  in  pieces 
during  the  reign  of  the  mad  French  king  Charles  VI.  The  greal 
action  was  the 

5.  Battle  of  Agincourt  (a.  d.  141 5) :  English  victory. 

[By  a  treaty  of  peace  (a.  d.  1420)  it  was  agreed  that  the  English 
king,  Henry  V.,  should  succeed  to  the  crown  of  France  on  the  death 
of  the  mad  king  Charles  VI.,  and  that  the  two  crowns  were  to  be  evei 
after  united.] 

6.  Refusal  of  the  French  to  acknowledge  the  treaty  after  the  death  of 
both  Charles  and  Henry  in  A.  D.  1422.  The  war  was  now  carried  on 
by  the  French  king  Charles  VII. 

7.  Uprising  of  France,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  famous  Maid  ol 
Orleans,  Joan  of  Arc.  By  the  enthusiasm  which  she  excited,  the 
French  gained  several  victories  over  the  English,  and  finally,  by 
A.  D.  1453,  ^^^  latter  were  entirely  driven  from  France,  retaining  only 
the  town  of  Calais.     This  closed  the  Hundred  Years'  War. 

211.  On  the  whole,  notwithstanding  the  long  war  with 
England,  the  kingdom  of  France  grew  greatly  state  of  the 
in  power  and  extent  in  the  times  between  the  French  nation, 
middle  of  the  13th  century  and  the  middle  of  the  15  th 
century.  And,  regarding  the  history  of  France  during 
the  Middle  Ages  as  closing  with  Louis  XI.  (a.  d.  1483), 
we  may  say  that  the  French  nation  was  then  the  most 
powerful  in  Europe. 


3.     ENGLAND. 

212.  The  history  of  Anglo-Saxon  England  has  been 
traced  up  to  the  epoch  of  Charlemagne,  when 

ix.  ■  1-1  11-1     Review. 

the  various   petty  kmgdoms  were   all   united 

under  King  Egbert,  at  the  beginning  of  the  9th  century. 

213.  The  supremacy  of  Egbert  was  soon  interrupted  by 
the  Danes,  or  Norsemen,  and  both  he  and  his  Troubles  with 
successors  were  very  greatly  disturbed  by  them.   ^^^  Danes. 


292  MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 

Alfred  the  Great  was  a  grandson  of  Egbert,  and  became 
^ing  of  Wessex  in  a.  d.  872.  He  was  almost  constantly  em- 
ployed in  fighting  the  Danes.  But  all  he  could  do  did  not 
prevent  them  making  a  lodgement  in  England ;  and  a  cen- 
tury after  Alfred's  death  England  was  quite  won  by  them, 
for  the  Dane  Canute  wore  the  English  crown  (a.  d.  1017- 
1036),  as  did  his  successors  till  a.  d.  1041. 

214.  The  Norman  conquest  of  England,  under  William 
Effect  of  Nor-  the  Conqueror  (a.  d.  1066),  the  facts  of  which 
man  conquest,  h^ve  been  related  (under  France),  was  the  next 
great  event  in  the  history  of  England.  By  this  event  the 
English  nation  was  thoroughly  subjugated.  The  Normans, 
who  came  over  in  crowds,  were  the  ruling  class.  They  had 
all  the  great  offices.  The  Church  and  the  law  courts  were 
directed  by  them.  The  official  language  was  that  spoken 
by  the  conquerors,  that  is,  Norman-French,  which  was  a 
Romance,  or  Latin-sprung,  speech. 

215.  The  Saxons,  however,  were  of  tough  mettle.  They 
Persistence  ^^sld  their  own  Well,  for  in  fact  they  were  still 
•f  Saxons.  ^|^g  great  majority  of  the  people.  What  is 
very  important,  also,  they  clung  to  their  native  Anglo-Saxon 
language.  The  effect  on  the  language  was  peculiar.  For 
a  long  time  the  two  tongues  did  not  coalesce.  Anglo- 
Saxon  remained  the  speech  of  the  common  people,  while 
French  was  the  official  and  the  fashionable  language.  In 
two  hundred  years  but  few  Norman  words  had  been 
bi  ought  into  the  ordinary  speech ;  but  meanwhile  the  An- 
glo-Saxon began  to  drop  most  of  its  peculiar  grammatical 
forms.  Then,  when  Saxon  had  been  stripped  down  to  semi- 
Saxon,  there  came  about  in  the  14th  century  a  remarkable 
rushing  together  of  the  languages.  Thousands  of  Norman- 
French  words  were  introduced  into  the  common  dialect,  and 
the  result  was  the  type  of  English  which  we  may  read  in 
Chaucer,*  who  lived  in  the  14th  century. 

*  As  in  the  Canterbury  Tales. 


ENGLAND.  293 


216.  To  rcbuiue  our  outline  of  the   dynastic  history  of 
England.     The  Norman  line  was  composed  of  The  Norman 
the  following  sovereigns  :  —  kings. 

William  I.,  a.  d.  1066-  1087. 

William  II.  (Rufus),  a.  d.  1087 -i  100.  —  Henry  I.,  a.  d.  i  100- i  135. 

Stephen,  a.  d.  i  135 -i  154, 

217.  William  II.  was  the  second  surviving  son,  and  Hen- 
ry I.  the  youngest  son,  of  William  the  Con-   Lineage  of 
queror.     Stephen  was  the  son  of  the  Count  of  ^^^  J^jngs. 
Blois  and  Adela,  fourth  daughter  of  William  the  Conqueror, 

218.  With  Henry  II.,  son  of  Geoffrey  Plantag'enet  and 
Matilda,  daughter  of  Henry  I.,  began  the  Plan-  The  Piantage- 
tagenet  line  of  sovereigns.  ^^'^^^ 

Henry  II.  (a.  d.  1154-1189). 


Richard  I.  (a.d.  1189-1199).  John  (a.  d.  1199-1216). 

Henry  III.  (a.  d.  1216-1272). 

I     ■ 
Edward  I.  (a.  d.  1272 -1307). 

Edward  II.  (a.  d.  1307- 1327). 

Edward  III.  (a.  d.  1327- 1377). 

Richard  II.  (a.  d.  1377 -1399). 

219.  During  the  reign  of  the  wicked  and  foolish  King 
John,  the  French  won  back  Normandy,  and  on  ^^^".^*  °^^^^ 
the  whole  it  was  a  very  good  thing  for  Eng-  feats, 
land  that  they  did  so.  Says  Macaulay :  "  John  was  driven 
from  Normandy.  The  Norman  nobles  were  compelled  to 
make  their  election  between  the  island  and  the  continent. 
Shut  up  by  the  sea  with  the  people  whom  they  had  hitherto 
oppressed  and  despised,  they  gradually  came  to  regard  Eng- 
land as  their  country,  and  the  English  as  their  countrymen. 


294  MEDIEVAL  HISTORY. 

The  two  races,  so  long  hostile,  soon  found  that  they  had 
common  interests  and  common  enemies." 

220.  It  was  in  the  13th  century  that  the  Constitution  of 

England  began  to  put  on  the  shape  which  it 
has  kept  ever  since.  The  first  step  was  when 
the  English  people  in  a.  d.  12 15  forced  King  John  to  grant 
the  Great  Charter  {Magna  Charta),  by  which  all  the  old 
rights  and  good  laws  which  he  had  broken  were  confirmed. 
It  has  been  the  groundwork  of  English  freedom  ever  since. 

221.  The  next  step  in  freedom  was  one  of  even  greater 

importance.  This  was  the  establishment  of 
Parliament  in  the  form  of  an  Assembly  with 
'Two  Houses.  It  came  about  in  this  way.  The  king, 
Henry  III.,  John's  son,  had  behaved  badly.  The  great 
nobles,  with  Sir  Simon  Montfort,  banded  against  the  king, 
defeated  him  in  the  field,  and  made  him  captive.  Then  Sir 
Simon  issued  writs  which  added  to  the  old  assembly  of 
lords,  clergy,  and  knights  tzi'o  burgesses  from  each  borough 
(a.  D.  1264).  This  was  the  commencement  of  the  English 
House  of  Commons  and  of  true  representative  government. 
It  was  a  wonderful  step  in  advance. 

222.  The  wars  waged  with  the  French  had  the  effect 
Effect  of  the  of  developing  in  the  English  people  a  strong 
^ars.  sentiment  of  nationalit}'.  It  may  be  said  that 
by  this  time  all  distinction  of  Norman  and  Saxon  had 
ceased,  and  that  there  were  only  Englishmen. 

223.  With  the  deposition  by  Parliament  of  Richard  II., 
Lancastrian  i^  A.  D.  1 399,  the  Plantagenet  line  went  out. 
kings.  Three  kings  of  the  House  of  Lancaster  now 
followed:  Henry  IV.  (a.  D.  1399-1413);  Henry  V.  (a.  d. 
1413-1422);  Henry  VI.  (a.  D.  1422-1461). 

224.  In  A.  D.  1455  there  broke  out  the  great  civil  strife 
Wars  of  the  known  as  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  (the  red  rose^ 
Roses.  symbol  of  Lancaster,  and  the  white  rose,  sym- 
3ol  of  York),  the  contending  parties  being  the  respective 


ITALY. 


295 


representatives  of  the  families  of  Lancaster  and  of  York, 
both  of  which  were  claimants  to  the  throne.  Six  years  of 
war  resulted  in  the  accession  of  Edward  IV.,  of  the  family 
of  York. 

225.    The  House  of  York  included  three  kings :  Edward 
IV.  (a.  d.  146 1  —  148^)  ;  Edward  V.  (a.  d.  148^ 

ON  J-    u      J      TTT       /  c  o    \     House  of  York. 

-1483);  Richard  III.  (a.  d.  1483 -1485). 
The  twenty-four  years'  reign  of  these  three  kings  was 
filled  with  troubles  and  intrigues,  and  these  continued  till 
A.  D.  1485,  when  a  Lancastrian  earl,  son  of  Edward  Tudor, 
came  to  the  throne  as  Henry  VH.  With  him  the  Tudor 
line  of  English  sovereigns  begins,  and  English  mediaeval 
history  ends. 


4.     ITALY. 

226.    When  the  extensive   Empire  of  Charlemagne  was 
parceled  out  by  the  treaty  of  Verdun  (a.  d.  843),   changes  in 
the  Italian  possession  (comprising  all  of  Lom-   ^*^'y- 

bardy)  fell  to  Lo- 
thaire,  one  of  the 
grandsons  of  Char- 
lemagne. Under  the 
German  Emperor 
Otho  these  were,  as 
has  been  seen,  ab- 
sorbed in  the  "  Holy 
Roman  Empire." 
227.    But  this  did 

notbring    Her  condi- 

quietude    ^'°"- 

to  Italy ;  for  the  emperors  and  the  popes  were  continually 
quarreling,  and  Italy  was  inevitably  drawn  into  the  strug- 
gles between  the  Guelphs  and  the  Ghibellines.  The  Ghib- 
ellines  were  the  friends  of  the  emperors ;  the  Guelphs,  with 
whom  the  popes  generally  sided,  upheld  the  cause  of  the 


The  Lion  of  St.  Mark. 


296  AfEDTy^VAL   HISTORY 

Italian  people,  who  were  constantly  striving  to   rend  the 
links  that  bound  them  to  the  German  Empire. 

228.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  12th  century  Frederick 
Struggle  with  Barbarossa  attempted  to  strip  the  Italian 
the  Emperor,  towns  of  their  dearly  prized  liberties.  This 
resulted  in  the  League  of  Lombardy  in  a.  d.  1167,  when 
twenty-three  Italian  cities  united  to  claim,  among  other 
privileges,  the  right  of  electing  their  own  magistrates  and 
making  their  own  laws.  By  granting  charters  and  working 
on  local  jealousies,  Frederick  contrived  to  muster  in  oppo- 
sition a  league  of  Ghibelline  cities.  For  nine  years  war 
wasted  Northern  Italy,  until  the  decisive  Battle  of  Legna'no 
was  fought  in  a.  d.  1176.  Seven  years  later,  by  the  Peace 
of  Constance,  the  Emperor  acknowledged  the  right  of  the 
republics  to  govern  themselves. 

229.  The  most  illustrious  of  the  Italian  republics  were 
Venice  and  Florence. 

230.  The   glory   of   Venice   began   with   the    Crusades. 

Her  position,  favorable  for  commerce,  had 
already  led  to  ship-building  on  a  large  scale  ; 
and  the  hire  of  vessels  to  carry  the  Crusaders  to  Palestine 
filled  her  coffers  with  gold.  Her  ships  brought  back  from 
Syria  the  silks  and  spices  and  jewels  of  the  East.  The  same 
course  led  to  the  rapid  rise  of  her  rival,  Genoa,  on  the  oppo- 
site shore  of  Italy.  With  her  commerce  her  manufactures 
also  throve,  —  the  silks  and  the  glass  made  at  Venice  being 
especially  prized. 

231.  The  territor)^  of  Venice  spread  at  an  early  day 
Growth  of  round  the  northern  shore  of  the  Gulf.  Istria 
Venice.  ^^d  Dalmatia  became  hers.  During  the  Fourth' 
Crusade  she  gained  the  Ionian  Islands,  the  Morea,  and 
Candia ;  and  later  she  extended  her  sway  through  Lom- 
bardy as  far  as  the  Adda.  C5rprus  was  conquered  by  her 
in  A.  D.   1480. 

232.  In  A,  D.  1 172  the  appointment  of  the  Doge,  or  Duke, 


ITALY. 


29; 


Florence. 


and  other  magistrates  was  vested  in  a  grand  council  of  four 
hundred  and  eighty  members.     Change  after   Political 
change  took  place,  until  a  Council  of  Ten  se-  changes, 
cured  the  government  to  themselves.    Under  this  unchecked 
oligarchy  a  reign  of  terror  began, 

233.  In  the  mean  time  the  power  of  the  state  was  decay- 
insr.     The   League   of   Cambray  was   formed 

°  ...  Decay. 

against  the   island-city  in   a.  d.    150S   by  the 

Pope,  the  Emperor,  and  the  kings  of  France  and  Spain,  and 

she  suffered  a  defeat  from  which  she  never  fully  recovered. 

234.  The  strength  of  Florence  lay  in  the  commercial 
spirit  of  the  citizens.  They  wove  in  silk  and 
wool,  made  jewelry,  and  especially  followed 
the  occupation  of  bankers.  Their  gold  florin,  first  coined 
in  A.  D.  1252,  became  the  standard  currency  of  Europe.  In 
A,  D.  1250  the  citizens,  revolting  against  the  rule  of  the 
Ghibelline  nobles,  established  a  magistracy  styled  the  St^- 
noria.  Long  and  tedious  feuds  distracted  Florence ;  but  in 
spite  of  these  she  grew  rich. 

235.  In  the  course  of  these  troubles  a  family  of  mer- 
chants named  the  Medicis  \ined' e-chee\  rose  to 
great  influence  in  Florentine  politics;  and 
finally  one  of  these,  named  Lorenzo  de  Medici,  raised  him- 
self to  be  the  head  of  the  state. 
His  splendid  patronage  of  art 
and  literature  gained  for  Loren- 
zo the  name  of  the  Magnificent. 
He  turned  his  gardens  at  Flor- 
ence into  an  Academy,  he  en- 
riched the  public  library  with 
many  hundreds  of  manuscripts 
collected  in  Italy  and  the  East, 
and  by  his  patronage  of  artists 

Lorenzo  de  Medici.  made  Florence  the  scene  of  some 

of  the  most  brilliant  triumphs  ever  won  by  brush  or  chisel. 

J3* 


The  Medicis. 


298 


MEDIAEVAL   HISTORY. 


Later  events. 


236.  When  Charles  VIII.  of  France,  crossing  the  Alps, 
invaded  Italy,  Florence  was  rudely  despoiled. 
The  Medicis  were  then  banished  from  Flor- 
ence;  but  they  were  restored  in  a.  d.  15 12.  The  republic, 
however,  did  not  long  endure.  Its  extinction  dates  from 
A.  D.  1537,  when  Cosmo  I.  was  proclaimed  Duke  of  Flor- 
ence. In  A.  D.  1569  he  was  created  by  the  Pope  Grand  Duke 
of  Tuscany.  But  this  carries  us  beyond  the  period  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  we  shall  return  to  Italy  under  Modern 
History. 

5.     SPAIN. 

237.  It    has    already  been  seen  that    Spain   was   over- 
Condition  whelmed  by  a  Saracenic  deluge   in  the  early 

under  Moham-  c     ^        r>  ^  >-n.        ^i     •     •         i  • 

medan  rule.  part  of  the  8th  ccntury.  The  Christian  king- 
dom was  almost  utterly  crushed.  However,  after  a  time 
the  Mohammedan  dominions  were  split  up  among  a  num- 


ANALYTIC  SYNOPSIS. 


299 


ber  of  petty  sovereigns,  and  the  Christians  began  gradually 
to  conquer  back  what  had  been  lost. 

238.  The  kingdom  of  Navarre  was  founded  in  a.  d.  873, 
the  kingdom  of  Aragon  in  a.  d.  1035,  the  king-  Rise  ^f  span- 
dom  of  Castile  in  a.  d.  1026.  Leon  and  Astu'-  '^•^  kingdoms, 
rias  were  added  in  a.  d.  1037,  and  Ferdinand  of  Leon  and 
Castile  added  Cor'dova,  Toledo,  and  Sev'ille  between  a.  d. 
1234  and  A.  D.  1248. 

239.  The  Kingdom  of  Spain  was  formed  by  the  union  of 
Castile  and  Aragon,  by  the  marriage  of  Ferdi-  unification  of 
nand  and  Isabella,  and  in  a.  d.  1491,  Granada,   Spain. 

the  last  of  the  Mohammedan  possessions,  was  wrested  from 
the  Moors  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  In  the  long  cam- 
paign against  the  Moors  the  court  moved  with  the  army, 
and  Columbus,  who  was  then  soliciting  the  aid  of  the 
Spanish  sovereigns  in  his  great  enterprise,  moved  with  it. 
It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  formal  arrangement,  or 
capitulations,  between  Isabella  and  Columbus  is  dated  from 
the  "Vega  (or  plain)  of  Granada  "  three  days  after  the  sur- 
render of  the  last  stronghold  of  the  Moors. 


ANALYTIC    SYNOPSIS   FOR   REVEW. 


Fifth 
Century. 


The  latter  part  of  this  century  is 
filled  with  the  events  attending  the 
dissolution  of  the  Western  Roman 
Empire.  The  series  of  emperors 
in  the  West  comes  to  an  end,  and 
the  Visigoths  reign  in  Italy.  Mean- 
while the  Goths,  Franks,  and  other 
Teutonic  nations  press  into  the  Em- 
pire, and  out  of  their  settlements 
the  Romance  nations  of  Europe 
arise.  At  the  same  time  the  An- 
gles and  Saxons  are  settling  in 
Britain  and  laying  the  foundations 
of  ths  English  nation. 


Progress  of  CiviU" 

2ATI0N. 


Introduction  of 
Christianity      into 
France. 


300 


MEDIAL VAL    HISTORY. 


Sixth 
Century. 


Seventh 
Century. 


In  the  sixth  century  the  Franks 
establish  themselves  as  the  domi- 
nant race,  and  under  Clovis,  A.  D. 
510,  found  a  kingdom  of  the  Franks 
that  embraced  parts  of  what  we 
now  call  France  and  Germany. 
Clovis  is  succeeded  by  other  kings 
of  the  Merovingian  line.  In  the 
Byzantine  Empire  Justinian  reigns 
in  the  first  half  of  the  century. 
Under  him  the  Ostrogoths  are 
driven  out  of  Italy,  and  a  good 
part  of  the  peninsula  is  united  with 
the  Eastern  Empire,  as  is  also  the 
Vandal  kingdom  in  Africa.  But 
in  the  latter  half  of  this  century 
the  Lombards  pour  into  Italy  and 
conquer  the  whole  northern  part, 
leaving  to  the  Eastern  Empire  only 
some  parts  of  Central  Italy  —  the 
j  Exarchate  of  Ravenna  —  and  of  the 
;  southern  section.  The  Lombards 
I  establish  the  kingdom  of  Lombardy, 
1^  embracing  the  valley  of  the  Po. 


The  first  half  of  the  seventh  cen- 
tury is  marked  by  the  rise  of  Mo- 
hammedanism, and  by  the  first 
great  Saracenic  conquests  ( Hegira, 
A.  D.  622).  Under  the  Caliphs  the 
Saracens  wrench  from  the  Eastern 
Empire  a  great  part  of  its  Oriental 
dominion.  North  Africa  also  is 
conquered.  But  Constantinople 
successfully  withstands  the  Sara- 
cenic assaults.  In  Italy  and  the 
land  of  the  Franks  matters  remain 
much  as  at  the  close  of  the  previ- 
ous century.  England  is  Chris- 
tianized ;  but  it  is  not  yet  Eng- 
\  land, — being  divided  among  seven 
i  or  eight  petty  sovereignties  called 
!  the  Heptarchy. 


Silk-\vorms  brought 
to  Europe. 


Roman  lavir  codified 
under  Justinian. 


Introduction  of 
Christianity      into 
England. 


Latin      disused     In 
Italy. 


Pens      made 
quills. 


from 


Glass   manufactured 
in  England. 


Alexandrian  Librar} 
destroyed. 


Greek  fire  inventea 


Koran  published. 


Eighth 
Century. 


Ninth 
Century; 


ANALYTIC  SYNOPSIS. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  eighth 
century  the  Saracens  cross  into 
Spain,  which  falls  almost  wholly 
into  their  hands.  They  also  at- 
tempt to  push  their  conquests 
beyond  the  Pyrenees,  but  are  met 
at  Tours  by  Charles  Martel  and 
defeated.  The  Frankish  kings 
sink  into  mere  nonentities.  The 
real  rulers  are  the  Mayors  of  the 
Palace ;  and  one  of  these,  Pepin, 
deposes  the  last  Merovingian,  and 
becomes  the  founder  of  the  Carlo- 
vingian  line.  Under  Pepin's  son, 
Charlemagne,  the  Frankish  domin- 
ion is  greatly  extended ;  North- 
ern Italy  is  conquered  from  the 
Lombards,  and  on  Christmas  day, 
A.  D.  800,  Charlemagne  is  crowned 
Emperor  of  the  West.  Pepin  lays 
the  foundation  of  the  temporal 
power  of  the  popes  by  the  gift  of 
the  Exarchate  of  Ravenna. 

r  In  the  early  part  of  the  ninth 
'  century  the  various  petty  sover- 
eignties in  England  are  all  united 
into  one  kingdom  under  Egbert : 
and  the  brilliant  period  of  Alfred 
comes  in  the  latter  half  of  this 
century.  In  Spain  the  Saracenic 
power  declines,  and  the  Christian 
kingdoms  of  Navarre  and  Leon  are 
founded.  Under  the  successors  of 
Charlemagne  the  Empire  is  broken 
up  into  the  three  kingdoms  of 
France,  Germany,  and  Italy ;  but 
it  is  a  period  of  great  confusion 
and  many  changes  in  these  coun- 
tries, owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
feudal  barons  assume  the  power  of 
sovereign  princes  in  various  parts 
of  the  Empire. 


301 


Paper     made      from 
cotton. 


Carpets  introduced. 


Schools  of  learning 
founded  by  tlie 
Saracens. 


Greek  ^vorks  of  sci-^ 
ence  translated 
into  Arabic. 


Clocks      brought    to 
AA/estern  Europe. 


Oxford       University 
founded. 


Agriculture  and  hor^ 
ticulture  encour- 
aged in  Germany^ 


A  navy  first  organ- 
ized by  Alfred  the 
Great. 


302 


MEDIEVAL   HISTORY. 


Tenth 
Century. 


Eleventh 
Century. 


In  the  early  part  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury the  Norsemen  become  promi- 
nent, and  under  Rollo  they  make 
a  landing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Seine, 
and  become  so  formidable  that  the 
French  king  cedes  to  them  the 
province  of  Normandy.  They  also 
(as  Danes)  assert  their  power  in 
England  and  maintain  a  footing 
there.  At  the  same  time  Germany 
passes  entirely  away  from  the  Car- 
lovingians,  and  under  new  sover- 
eigns begins  to  grow  great.  Otho, 
the  German  king,  is  crowned  em- 
peror ;  so  that  most  of  Italy  is  now 
part  of  the  Empire.  In  France,  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  century,  the  im- 
becile Carlovingian  dynasty  comes 
to  an  end  ;  Hugh  Capet,  the  Duke 
of  Francia,  is  crowned  king,  and  the 
t  French  monarchy  now  really  begins. 

f  During  the  eleventh  century  the 
j  German  Empire  is  the  foremost 
'  power  in  Europe.  The  popes  also 
I  have  risen  to  great  influence  in 
temporal  affairs,  and  a  good  part 
of  this  century  is  marked  by  a  great 
and  prolonged  struggle  be^veen 
the  popes  and  the  emperors.  In 
the  latter  half  of  the  century  Hilde- 
brand  (Gregory  VII.)  is  Pope ;  he 
asserts  the  power  of  the  Church 
over  all  temporal  sovereigns,  and 
compels  the  Emperor  Henry  IV. 
humbly  to  sue  for  pardon.  The 
Norman  conquest  of  England  takes 
place  during  the  latter  half  of  this 
century,  —  a.  d.  io66.  The  king- 
dom of  Castile  is  greatly  enlarged 
at  the  expense  of  the  Mohamme- 
dans. Towards  the  end  of  the  cen- 
i  tury  the  Crusades  begin. 


Arabic  notation  in- 
troduced  into  Eu- 
rope. 


■Wine-presses  first 
introduced  into 
Italy. 


Cambridge     Univer- 
sity founded. 


Musical     notes     in- 
vented. 


Windmills  first  used. 


Clocks  with  wheels 
introduced. 


Beginnings  of  native 
literature  in  the 
Romance  tongues. 


ANALYTIC  SYNOPSIS. 


303 


Twelfth 
Century. 


Thirteenth 
Century. 


During  this  century  much  is  done 
towards  bringing  the  various  pow- 
ers of  Europe  into  something  like 
the  state  in  which  they  are  now. 
The  Italian  cities  assert  their  inde- 
pendence, the  power  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire  comes  pretty  well  to 
an  end,  and  Germany  and  Italy 
begin  to  be  collections  of  separate 
states,  independent  or  nearly  so. 
The  Crusades  go  on  at  intervals 
during  this  century.  Chivalry  be- 
comes a  great  institution.  The 
Italian  republics  rise  to  great  wealth 
and  glory.  It  is  also  a  season  of 
general  intellectual  awakening,  and 
Europe  has  completely  emerged 
from  the  Dark  Ages. 

The  Crusades  continue  during 
the  thirteenth  century,  but  in  a 
feebler  way,  and  finally  cease  in 
the  latter  half.  In  England  Nor- 
mans and  English  are  fully  recon- 
ciled ;  the  English  kings,  losing  the 
greater  part  of  their  dominions  in 
France,  are  forced  to  become  na- 
tional sovereigns  ;  the  rights  of 
the  people  are  asserted  in  Magna 
Charta,  and  the  establishment  of 
the  House  of  Commons.  In  Ger- 
many the  Empire  is  upheld  by 
Frederick  II.  (King  also  of  Sicily), 
thus  joining  together  in  himself 
three  crowns  ;  but  he  has  continual 
strivings  with  various  popes.  In 
Spain,  the  Saracens  and  Moors  are 
left  with  nothing  but  Granada.  This 
is  also  a  period  of  general  intel- 
lectual improvement.  The  universi- 
ties are  established,  and  this  is  the 
age  of  the  Minnesingers  of  Germany 
and  of  Gothic  church-architecture. 


Cultivation  of  the 
sugar-cane  intro- 
duced into  Sicily. 


Glass  w^indows  used 
in  England. 


Introduction  of  the 
scholastic  philoso- 
phy by  Abelard, 
Peter  Lombard, 
and  others. 


Spectacles  invented. 


Glass  mirrors  used. 


Clocks  to  strike 
made  in  Europe. 


Science      cultivated 
by    Roger     Bacon 
and  Albertus 
Magnus. 


Marco  Polo 
neyed  into 
ern  Asia. 


jour- 
East' 


304 


MEDIEVAL   HISTORY 


Fourteenth 
Century. 


Fifteenth 
Century. 


During  a  good  part  of  this  cen- 
tury England  and  France  are  en- 
gaged in  war.  France,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  English  invasions 
of  Edward  III.,  is  nearly  con- 
quered ;  but  she  gains  in  the  end. 
These  wars  exercise  a  great  influ- 
ence in  uniting  the  English  into 
one  nation.  The  English  language 
takes  on  to  a  good  degree  its  mod- 
ern form :  it  is  now  really  English, 
not  Anglo-Saxon  or  Semi- Saxon. 
In  Italy  learning  revives  ;  but  the 
republics  lose  most  of  their  free- 
dom. Spain  is  gradually  becoming 
a  great  power.  Norway,  Denmark, 
and  Sweden  are  joined  by  the 
Union  of  Calmar. 

In  the  course  of  this  century  we 
get  fairly  beyond  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  feudal  form  of  society  has  been 
gradually  undermined,  and  strong 
national  monarchies  have  arisen  in 
the  various  European  countries. 
The  Eastern  Empire  comes  to  an 
end,  being  overthrown  by  the 
Turks  in  the  middle  of  this  cen- 
tury. Spain  becomes  one  great 
nation  by  the  union  of  Aragon  and 
Castile.  The  application  of  the 
mariner's  compass  leads  to  distant 
sea  voyages,  —  new  lands  are 
opened  up.      Gunpowder  changes 

I  the  art  of  war,  and  printing  makes 

[  aa  intellectual  revolution. 


Mariner's      compass 
introduced  into 
Europe. 


Paper     made     from 
linen  rags. 


Gunpowder  and  can- 
non used  in  war. 


Pins  invented. 

Beginnings  of  Eng- 
lish literature,  — 
Chaucer. 

New  Testament 
translated  by 
Vv^ycliffe. 


Invention  of  the  art   | 
of  printing. 


Greek  philosophers 
seek  refuge  in 
Italy. 

Algebra  borrowed 
from  the  Arabs. 

Discovery  of  Amer- 
ica. 

Passage  round  Capt 
of  Good  Hope  dis- 
covered. 


TRANSITION    TO  MODERN  HISTORY. 


305 


SECTION    V. 
MODERN     HISTORY. 

FnOM    THE  BEGINN/yC,   OF   THE  16TH  CENTURY  TO   THE  PRESENT  TIME. 

CHAPTER    I. 

TRANSITION    TO    MODERN    HISTORY. 

I.     INTRODUCTION. 

I.    It  is  difficult  to  fix  upon  a  precise  date  at  which  to 
say    Medinsval    History    ended    and    Modern   When  does 
History  began  ;  for,  as  a  great  author  declares,   history  end  ? 
"  The  horologe  of  Time  does  not  peal  out  the  passage  from 
one  era  to  another."     And  indeed  this  difficulty  is  shown 


First  Printing-Press. 


Vasco  da  Gama. 


by  the  different  dates  selected  by  different  historians  as 
the  proper  close  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Some  place  it  at 
the  date  of  the  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks, 
when  the  Eastern  Roman  Empire  came  to  an  end.      But 

T 


306  MODERN  HISTORY. 

this  was  far  from  being  an  event  of  marked  importance 
for  Europe  in  general.  Others  place  it  at  the  date  of  the 
discovery  of  America.  But  this  event,  great  though  it  was, 
was  merely  one  event  in  a  series  of  maritime  discoveries. 
Others,  again,  place  it  at  the  close  of  the  15th  century.  Bu^ 
this  is  purely  arbitrary. 

2.  In  place  of  marking  one  single  date  as  the  close  oi 
Period  of  the  old  and  the  commencement  of  the  new 
transition.  g^^^  j|-  ^jj]  \^^  wiser  to  regard  the  period  in- 
cluded between  the  latter  part  of  the  15th  and  the  early 
part  of  the  i6th  century  as  a  Period  of  Transition,  in  pass- 
ing through  which  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  we  cross  the 
bridge  from  mediaeval  to  modern  history. 

3.  This  period  will  embrace  several  marked  events  and 
Events  in-  tcvolutions  in  affairs :  as,  the  destruction  of 
eluded.  ^i^g  Eastern  Empire  ;  the  era  of  maritime  dis- 
covery, including  the  discovery  of  America  and  the  circum- 
navigation of  Africa ;  the  invention  of  printing  and  the 
revival  of  learning ;  the  invention  of  gunpowder,  with  con- 
sequent changes  in  the  art  of  war  and  in  the  organization 
of  society ;  the  decline  of  feudalism  and  the  establishment 
of  centralized  monarchies. 


2.    FALL  OF  THE   EASTERN   EMPIRE. 

4.  In  the  middle  of  the  15th  century  Constantine  Palae- 

State  of  the       ol'ogus  was  the  ruler  over  the  Byzantine  Em- 
Eastern  Em-  .    °  .  Ill 
pire.                  pire ;  but  this  empire  was  reduced  almost  to 

the  limits  of  the  city  of  Constantinople,  —  for  to  such  a 

pass  had  the  great  dominion  of  Constantine  been  brought 

by  the  vice  and  folly  of  its  rulers,  the  fury  of  theological 

controversy,  and  the  corruption  of  its  citizens.     Thus  sunk 

in  hopeless  decay,  it  was  to  fall  before  the  power  of  the 

Ottoman  Turks. 

5.  The   power  of   the  Ottoman   Turks   commenced   in 


FALL   OF  THE  EASTERN  EMPIRE. 


307 


Asia  Minor,  and  was  laid  by  Othman,  or  Ottoman  (bom 
i2';8),  who,  originally  ruler  of  a  small  moun-   History  of 

?    ^\.       .         r  .  ^        ,  .  r  .  the  Ottoman 

tarn  district  forming  the  frontier  of  ancient  Turks. 
Bithynia  and  Phrygia,  gradually  extended  his  dominion 
till  it  became  one  of  the  most  flourishing  states  of  Asia 
Minor.  The  advance  of  the  Ottoman  dynasty  after  this 
was  rapid.  Not  only  did  nearly  all  Asia  Minor  fall  under 
Turkish  sway,  but  in  the  14th  century  the  Turks  crossed 
the  Hellespont,  made  Adrianople  their  capital,  and  reach- 
ing out  from  there  gradually  stripped  the  Byzantine  em- 
perors of  Thrace,  Macedon,  Servia,  and  Southern  Greece. 
At  length  Mohammed  II.  ascended  the  Ottoman  throne 
(145 1 ),  and,  from  the  moment  of  his  accession,  directed  his 
efforts  to  the  capture  of  Constantinople. 

6.    At  the  head  of  an  army  of  300,000  men,  supported 
by  a  powerful  fleet,  he  laid  siege  to  the  cele-   siege  of  Con- 
brated   metropolis.      Constantine    Palaeologus  stantmopie. 
met  the  storm  valiantly,  and  for  fifty-three  days   made  a 
stout  defense  of  the  city.     At  last,  on  the   29th  of  May, 


UsB  OF  Gunpowder  at  thu  Siege  of  CoNSTANTiNok'LE. 

1453,  the  Turks  stormed  the  walls,  having  previously  bat- 
tered them  with  cannon  (then  used  for  perhaps  the  first 


3o8 


MODERN  HISTORY. 


time)  ;  Constantine  fell,  sword  in  hand,  boldly  disputing 
every  inch  of  ground  ;  multitudes  of  his  subjects  were  mas- 
sacred ;  the  Crescent  waved  over  the  church  of  St.  Sophia, 
and  the  Byzantine  Empire  fell  forever. 

3.     MARITIME   DISCOVERIES. 

7.    We   have   now   to    take  a    survey   of    the    maritime 

The  world         discoveries  of  the   ii;th  century,  and  the  con- 
before  the  15th  .^  -" 
century.             sequent    changes    in    trade    and    commerce. 

The  accompanying  map  presents  to  the  eye  the  world  as 


X 


we   now  know  it,  with  the  world  as  known  to  Europeans 


I 


MARITIME  DISCOVERIES.  3O9 

previous  to  the  discovery  of  America  and  the  circumnavi- 
gation of  Africa.  From  this  it  will  appear  that,  during  the 
whole  of  what  we  call  ancient  history  and  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  historic  stage  was  limited  to  Europe,  a  small  part  of 
Western  Asia,  and  a  narrow  strip  of  Northern  Africa. 
We  are  now  to  learn  how  these  limits  were  prodigiously 
enlarged  in  consequence  of  the  great  discoveries  that  mark 
the  latter  half  of  the  15  th  century. 

8.  A  knowledge  of  the  properties  of  the  magnet  was  a 
necessary  antecedent  of  distant  ocean  voyages  invention  of 
and  the  discovery  of  unknown  lands.  The  ^^^  compass, 
invention  of  the  compass  has  commonly  been  attributed  to 
an  Italian  named  Gioja  \_jo'ya\,  who  flourished  about  the 
beginning  of  the  14th  century ;  but  erroneously,  for  the  in- 
strument was  known,  even  in  Europe,  nearly  two  centuries 
before  this  time.  It  was  then,  however,  in  a  very  rudimen- 
tary state,  being  merely  a  needle  rubbed  on  a  loadstone 
and  floating  on  a  cork,  or  other  light  substance,  in  a  vessel 
filled  with  water,  —  a  method  used  long  before  by  the 
Chinese.  The  really  important  question  is,  When  was  the 
compass  practically  applied  in  navigation  ?  This  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  done  till  about  the  beginning  of  the 
15  th  century. 

9.  It  was  the  Portuguese  who,  under  the  patronage  of 
Prince  Henry  of  Portugal,  took  the  lead  in  prince  Henry 
maritime  discovery.  Retiring  to  the  promon-  "^  Portugal, 
tory  of  St.  Vincent,  this  enlightened  prince  established 
himself  at  the  seaport  town  of  Sa'gres,  where  he  built  an 
observatory  and  gathered  around  him  from  all  quarters 
men  skilled  in  astronomy  and  navigation.  With  these  he 
discussed  bold  projects  of  maritime  enterprise ;  and  the 
point  to  which  he  especially  directed  his  attention  was 
the  practicability  of  sailing  round  Africa  and  of  thus  reach- 
ing the  East  Indies. 

10.  The  southernmost  cape  of  Africa  known  in  those 


310  MODERN  HISTORY. 

days  was  Cape  Non,  which  received  this  appellation  from 
Portuguese       the  idea  that  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  get 

discoveries    in  i      i   •  -r-.  ^  rr  r    tt 

Africa.  beyond  this  cape.     But  the  officers  of  Henry, 

having  at  length  doubled  it,  found  Cape  Bojador  \bozh- 
d-dor''\  ;  and  this  awful  cape  being  passed  by,  the  region 
of  the  tropics  was  penetrated,  and  divested  of  its  fancied 
terrors ;  the  river  Sen'egal  was  observed,  the  greater  part 
of  the  African  coast,  from  Cape  Blanco  to  Cape  de  Verde, 
was  explored,  and  the  Cape  de  Verde  and  the  Azore  Islands 
were  discovered.  Before  the  death  of  Prince  Henry,  in 
1463,  Portuguese  discovery  had  been  pushed  to  within  five 
degrees  of  the  equator. 

11.  The  passion  for  discovery  languished  after  the  death 
Their  further  ^^  PHncc  Henry ;  but  it  was  revived  with  ad- 
progress.  ditional  ardor  by  his  grand-nephew.  King  John 
11.  (148 1).  In  his  reign  the  Portuguese  for  the  first  time 
crossed  the  equator  and  beheld  the  stars  of  a  new  hemi- 
sphere:  in  1484  a  Portuguese  fleet  sailed  fifteen  hundred 
miles  south  of  the  equator,  settlements  were  made  on  the 
coast  of  Guinea,  and  a  regular  commerce  was  established. 

12.  The  Portuguese  now  began  to  conceive  the  pos- 
Circumnaviga-  sibility  of  reaching  India  by  a  southern  nav- 
tion  of  Africa,  jgation  around  Africa.  In  1487  Bartholo- 
mew Di'az  sailed  far  enough  south  not  only  to  descry, 
but  to  double,  the  Cabo  Tormentoso,  or  Cape  of  Storms ; 
and  as  the  coast  was  ascertained  to  run  towards  the  north- 
east, the  prospect  of  success  seemed  now  so  clear  that  the 
king  renamed  this  cape  Cabo  de  Boa  Esperafifa,  or  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  The  "  good  hope  "  was  realized  by  Vasco  da 
Gama,  who,  having  doubled  the  southern  point  of  Africa, 
arrived  at  Cal'icut,  in  Mal'abar,  in  May,  1498.  A  sea-route 
to  India  was  thus  opened  up. 

13.  The  desire  of  reaching  India  by  sea  was  the  inspir- 
What  led  to  ing  motive  of  a  voyage  that  resulted  in  a  still 
of  Amtri'c^a^.'^^  morc  brilliant  discovery,  namely,  the  discov- 
ery of  America  by  Columbus. 


MARITIME  DISCOVERIES.  31I 


14.  Columbus's  love  of  enterprise  was  no  doubt  stimu- 
lated by  the  maritime  discoveries  of  the  Portu-   Aim  of  Co- 
guese ;  and  it  has  been  recently  proved  that   '"'"'^"s. 

he  conceived  his  grand  project  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
Portugal.  This  project,  as  is  vi^ell  known,  was  by  no  means 
that  of  finding  a  new  continent,  but  of  seeking  a  passage 
to  India,  the  land  of  gold  and  spices.  He  knew  that  the 
Portuguese  were  bending  their  efforts  to  reach  India  by  the 
circumnavigation  of  Africa ;  and  his  grand  inspiration  was 
that  India  might  more  readily  be  attained  by  sailing  west- 
ward across  the  Atlantic. 

15.  The  success  of  the  Portuguese  in  India,  though  not 
so  brilliant,  was  scarcely  less  important  than    Portuguese 

,  r       ^         c  •        1        •  »  •  .  ,,  in  the  East 

that  of  the  Spaniards  in  America.  Albu-  indies, 
querque  conquered  Goa  (15 11),  and  made  it  the  capital  of 
the  Portuguese  establishments  in  the  East.  But  the  Portu- 
guese generally  abstained  from  territorial  acquisition ;  they 
contented  themselves  with  commercial  establishments  along 
the  coast,  whence  they  exported  from  India  direct  the  arti- 
cles which  the  Venetians  had  formerly  supplied  to  Europe 
through  Egypt  and  the  Levant. 

16.  The  circumnavigation  of  Africa  made   a   complete 
revolution    in    the    commercial    condition    of   Effect  of  sea- 
Europe  :  the  trade  which  had  been  confined   on  trade. 

to  the  Mediterranean  now  traversed  the  Atlantic,  and  the 
Western  nations  hastened  to  share  in  its  gains.  With 
characteristic  indolence,  the  Portuguese  carried  the  Indian 
produce  no  farther  than  Lisbon,  where  it  was  sold  to  for- 
eign merchants  for  transmission  to  other  countries.  The 
Dutch  engaged  veiy  eagerly  in  this  carrying-trade,  and 
found  it  so  lucrative  that  they  took  the  earliest  opportunity 
of  excluding  the  Portuguese  themselves  from  all  share  in 
their  commerce  by  depriving  them  of  their  colonies. 

17.  England  was  not  altogether  without  a  share  in  these 
great  maritime  discoveries.      In  1497,  under  the  auspices 


3 1 2  MODERN  HIS  TOR  Y. 

of  Henry  VII.,  Sebastian  Cabot,  a  native  of  Bristol,  and 
Part  taken  by  o^ie  of  the  three  sons  of  John  Cabot,  a  Venetian 
the  English.  merchant  settled  in  that  city,  sailed  around  the 
northern  coast  of  Labrador,  touched  at  a  point  supposed  to 
have  been  either  New'foundland  or  Cape  Breton',  and  sailed 
to  the  south  along  the  coast  of  what  is  now  the  United 
States  as  far  as  latitude  38°.  His  enterprise  led  to  no  im- 
mediate advantage,  though  the  discoveries  of  Cabot  are  of 
interest  as  having  been  the  foundation  of  the  English  claims 
to  dominion  in  North  America. 

18.  The  growth  of  commerce  in  this  age  was  very  rapid, 
Circumnavi-  but  there  appeared  to  be  still  room  for  further 
globe.  discoveries,  until  the   globe   was   circumnavi- 

gated by  the  ships  of  Magellan  (1519-1521).  From  that 
time  the  attention  of  nations  began  to  be  directed  more  to 
completing  old  discoveries  than  to  the  search  for  new  lands. 
The  navies  of  Europe  commenced  to  assume  a  formidable 
aspect ;  manufactures  multiplied,  and  states  previously  poor 
became  suddenly  rich.  Sovereigns  and  governments  began 
to  direct  their  attention  to  commerce,  justly  persuaded  that 
mercantile  wealth  is  the  source  as  well  of  the  prosperity  as 
of  the  glory  of  nations. 


4.    THE   REVIVAL  OF   LEARNING. 

19.  While  the  European  mind,  in  the  15th  century,  was 
Circumstances  thus  astir  with  the  spirit  of  discovery,  there 
rev1vai"^f*^^  took  placc  that  remarkable  intellectual  awak- 
learning.  ening  Styled  the    Revival  of  Learning.      We 

have  already  seen  that  this  movement  had  begun  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Long  before  the  fall  of 
Constantinople  the  love  of  classical  literature  had  been 
gradually  reviving  ;  —  that  event  increased  it  by  compelling 
a  great  number  of  learned  Greeks  to  seek  shelter  in  Italy, 
and   other  parts  of  Western    Europe,  carrying  with  them 


THE  REVIVAL    OF  LEARNING.  313 


their  treasures  of  classic  lore.  There  now  began  among 
scholars  a  most  ardent  search  for  buried  and  neglected 
manuscripts,  and  their  diligence  was  rewarded  by  the  discov- 
ery of  many  precious  monuments  of  the  Greek  and  Roman 
literature.  The  labors  of  these  scholars  were  mainly  in- 
strumental in  producing  that  state  of  things  which  turned 
men's  minds  towards  the  invention  of  printing,  and  nour- 
ished it  to  maturity  when  invented. 

20.  It  is  rather  singular,  in  connection  with  the  history 
of  printinsf,  so  aptly  termed  the  "  art  preserva-   Controversy 

^  °  ,,    ,  ,  .,       •  11°"  t*^s  origin 

tive  of  all  the  arts,  that  while  it  records  the  of  printing, 
birth  of  other  inventions,  no  positive  record  exists  of  its  own. 
A  controversy  has  arisen,  concerning  the  origin  of  the  art, 
between  the  three  towns  of  Harlem,  Mentz,  and  Strasburgj 
each,  from  a  natural  partiality,  attributing  it  to  her  own  citi- 
zens. The  dispute,  however,  has  turned  rather  on  words 
than  facts,  and  it  seems  to  have  arisen  from  the  different 
definitions  of  the  word  printing.  If  the  invention  of  the 
principle  be  made  the  criterion,  the  honor  is  unquestionably 
due  to  Laurence  Coster,  a  native  of  Harlem,  who  first 
found  out  the  method  of  impressing  characters  on  paper 
by  means  of  carved  blocks  of  wood.  If  movable  types  be 
considered  as  the  criterion,  the  merit  of  the  discovery  is 
due  to  John  Gu'tenberg  of  Mentz  ;  while  Schoeffer  \shef'er\, 
in  conjunction  with  Faust,  was  the  first  who  founded  types 
of  metal. 

21.  In  regard  to  the  earliest  books  printed,  the  follow- 
ing facts  are  of  interest :  — 

1423.     Year  of  the  earliest  dated  print.     This  is  known  as  the  "St. 

Christopher"   print,  —  a  single   engraved   page  with  a  few  lines  of 

e7tgraved  letters. 
1438.     Letters  separately  cut  in  wood  about  this  date. 
1450.     Letters  separately  cast  in  metal  about  this  date. 
1455.     Bible  in  Latin.     This  earliest  complete  printed  book  known  is 

called  the  Maz'arin  Bible,  from  having  been  found  in  the  collection  of 

Cardinal  Mazarin.     It  is  supposed  to  have  been  issued  from  the  press 

of  Gutenberg  a;jd  Faust  at  Mentz,  about  id";!;. 


314  MODERN-  HISTORY. 

1457,     Psalter  in  Latin;  printed  at  Mentz  by  Gutenberg  and  Faust, — 

first  book  printed  with  a  date. 
1460.     Bible  in  Latin  and  German  :  earliest  example  of  a  book  printed 

on  both  sides  of  the  leaf  with  metal  types. 
1474.     First  book  printed  in  England  by  Caxton.     Its  title  is  "  The 

Game  and  Playe  of  the  Chesse." 

5.     DECLINE   OF    FEUDALISM. 

22.  At  the  close  of  the  15th  and  commencement  of  the 
Feudalism  in  1 6th  ccntuty,  the  power  of  the  great  European 
France.  vassals  had  been  shaken,  but  not  annihilated. 
In  France  feudalism  had  received  a  severe  blow  at  the 
hands  of  Louis  XI. ;  yet  it  still  in  some  degree  survived ;  it 
threatened  to  rise  again  during  the  civil  wars  of  France, 
and  was  not  completely  extinguished  till  the  time  of  Riche- 
lieu. 

23.  So  also  in  Spain,  though  much  abated,  it  remained 
In  Spain  and  to  be  put  down  by  the  policy  of  the  Emperor 
England.  Charles  V.,  and  his  successor  Philip  II.  In 
England  the  great  vassals  cf  the  crown  had  never  been  so 
powerful  as  on  the  Continent;  and  hence  in  the  time  of 
John  they  had  been  obliged  to  league  themselves  with  the 
people  in  defense  of  their  common  rights.  The  great  Earl 
of  Wanvick  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.,  and  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham  in  that  of  Richard  III.,  are  among  the  last 
remarkable  instances  of  formidable  power  in  the  nobles. 
The  greater  part  of  them  perished  in  the  Wars  of  the  Roses. 

24.  Among  the  chief  agents  in  the  destruction  of  feu- 
Resuit  of  the  dalism  were  the  invention  of  gunpowder  and 
p"owder°"  °  the  consequent  change  in  the  art  of  war ;  for 
neither  the  armor  of  the  knights  nor  the  thick  walls  of 
their  castles  were  proof  against  bullets    and  cannon-balls. 

25.  Although  it  is  universally  conceded  that  gunpow- 
Period  of  the  der  was  invented  by  Roger  Bacon,  the  English 
invention.  monk,  in  the  13th  century,  it  was  long  before 
the  invention  was  applied  to  the  art  of  war.     This  applica 


RISE   OF  GREAT  MONARCHIES.  315 

tion  has  been  claimed  for  Berthold  Schwartz,  a  German 
apothecary,  about  1330  ;  but  gunpowder  appears  to  have 
been  used  in  war  by  the  Moors  before  that  period. 


6.    RISE   OF   GREAT  MONARCHIES. 

26.  The  most  striking  fact  in    the   political    aspect  of 
Europe  at  the  commencement  of  modern  his-   Great  feature 
tory  is  the   appearance  of   a   series  of  great  °^  ^^^  period, 
centralized  monarchies,  which  in  the  period  of  transition 
arose  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Feudal  States. 

27.  Despotism  could  not  exist  in  the  time  of  feudalism, 
on  account  of  the  resistance  of  the  nobility ;  cause  of  royal 
but  when  the  great  vassals  were  overthrown,  despotism, 
the  kings  gradually  contrived  to  get  all  power  into  their 
own  hands.  And  thus,  strange  to  say,  the  condition  of 
affairs  at  the  beginning  of  the  modern  period,  though  in 
some  respects  a  going  forward,  was  in  other  respects  a 
falling  back  from  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
It  was  a  time  when  laws  could  be  more  regularly  carried 
out,  when  much  of  the  turbulence  and  disorder  of  the 
feudal  period  came  to  an  end.  But  it  was  also  a  time  when 
political  freedom  retrograded,  when  the  great  states  became 
absolute  monarchies  under  sovereigns  whose  will  was  law. 

28.  These  monarchs  wielded  the  sword  of  the  state, 
and  this  sword  was  the  Standing  Army,  a  thing  Effect  of  stand, 
new  in  European  history.  In  the  feudal  ages,  '"^  armies, 
when,  in  order  to  make  war,  the  sovereign  had  to  call  on 
his  liegemen,  there  was  always  this  limitation  of  the  king's 
power,  that  the  great  vassals  might  not  obey.  But  an  army 
of  soldiers  kept  constantly  under  the  king's  pay  was  a  tre- 
mendous weapon  which  he  could  wield  at  will ;  and  it  was 
by  means  of  this  weapon  that  the  kings  in  most  parts  of 
Europe  overthrew  the  free  institutions  that  had  arisen  in 
the  Middle  Ages. 


3l6  MODERN  HISTORY. 

29.  The  people  surrendered  these  liberties  without  heed  ; 
Surrender  of  for  such  was  the  Spirit  of  the  age,  that  men 
liberties.  j-^^^j  come  to  think  the  sovereign  and  the  state 
one,  and  patriotism  meant  simply  loyalty  to  the  king.  This 
was  a  devotion  not  without  its  noble  aspect,  but  it  was  fatal 
to  the  people ;  and  we  shall  see  that  liberties  surrendered 
thus  lightly  had  afterwards  to  be  reclaimed  with  terrible 
throes. 

30.  The  absolute  power  which  the  great  sovereigns  had 
Nature  of  the  acquired  enabled  them  to  wage  wars  for  their 
wars  waged,  q^^  purposcs,  —  wars  in  which  the  nations 
that  they  governed  had  very  little  interest,  and  which  were 
designed  merely  for  the  aggrandizement  of  particular  royal 
families.  Thus,  though  the  most  valuable  part  of  history 
is  that  which  concerns  the  people  themselves,  and  not 
that  which  has  to  do  with  kings  and  courts,  it  happens 
that  at  this  period  we  cannot  pass  over  the  latter  in  silence, 
because  the  relations,  hostile  or  otherwise,  of  great  princes 
form  really  the  most  salient  facts  in  the  history  of  the  i6th 
and  17  th  centuries. 

31.  The  understanding  of  this  state  of  affairs  will  help 
Balance  of  the  student  to  a  knowledge  of  what  is  meant 
Power.  ]-,y  thg  balance  of  power,  —  of  which  we  read 
a  great  deal  in  modern  European  history.  For  when  the 
strength  of  nations  thus  became  centralized  in  the  hands 
of  a  few  monarchs,  it  was  not  unlikely  that  one  of  these 
might  through  his  own  power,  aided  by  family  connections, 
gain  a  great  and  dangerous  preponderance  over  the  others. 
Now  the  aim  of  the  policy  named  the  balance  of  power  was 
to  attain  such  a  just  distribution  of  force,  either  by  alliance 
or  internal  resources  between  the  different  states,  that  no 
one  should  overshadow  the  others.  This  led  to  exceed- 
ingly complicated  international  relations,  and  the  combina- 
tion of  nations  thus  formed  is  often  spoken  of  a;i  the  "States- 
System  of  Europe." 


AGE   OF  CHARLES   V. 


317 


CHAPTER    II. 
GREAT    EVENTS    OF   THE   SIXTEENTH   CENTURY 


TOPICS. 


'Age  of  Charles  V. 
England  under  Henry  VIII. 
Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic. 
Civil  and  Religious  Wars  of  France. 
Age  of  Elizabeth. 


I.    AGE  OF   CHARLES  V. 

32.  It  is  the  brilliant  figure  of  Spain  that  first  attracts 
our  attention  at  the  beginning  of  modern  his-  Growth  of 
tory ;  and  indeed  we  may  fairly  say  that  dur-  Spanish  power, 
ing  most  of  the  i6th  century  Spain  was  the  greatest  power 
in  Europe.  For  a  long  time  during  the  Middle  Ages  Spain 
lay  obscurely  between  the  ocean  and  the  Pyrenees,  and 
carried  on  wars  and  policies  which  were  limited  by  its 
territorial  bounds.  Indeed,  we  can  hardly  say  that  at 
this  time  Spain  was  a  nation  at  all ;  for  the  peninsula 
was  parceled  out  between  a  number  of  small  independent 
kingdoms,  while  the  Moors,  though  their  power  had  been 
greatly  circumscribed,  still  held  firm  foothold  in  Grenada. 
But  the  marriage  of  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  with  Isabella  of 
Castile  united  the  two  most  powerful  states.  Then  these 
sovereigns  entered  upon  a  vigorous  campaign  against  the 
Moors,  and  the  year  149 1  saw  the  fall  of  Grenada.  In  15 12 
Ferdinand  conquered  nearly  all  the  kingdom  of  Navarre, 
—  so  that  the  whole  peninsula  except  Portugal  was  thus 
joined  together;  and  the  year  1516  saw  the  supreme  power 
over  all  united  Spain  descend  on  the  head  of  the  grand- 
son of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  Now  this  grandson  was 
the  character  known  in  history  as  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 


3l8  MODERN  HISTORY. 

33.  Charles  V.  was  born  at  Ghent  in  the  year  1500. 
Position  of  He  was  the  son  of  Philip,  Archduke  of  Austria 
Charles  V.  (^^^  q£  Maximilian,  Emperor  of  Germany),  and 
of  Joanna  (daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  of  Spain). 
At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  assumed  the  government  of  Flan- 
ders, which  came  to  him  through  his  paternal  grandmother, 
Mary  of  Burgundy.  In  the  following  year,  15 16,  the  death 
of  his  maternal  grandfather,  Ferdinand,  placed  on  his 
head  the  brilliant  crown  of  Spain,  and  as  Don  Carlos  I.  he 
ruled  jointly  with  his  mother,  Joanna,  who,  however,  was 
insane.  The  Spanish  dominion  at  this  time  included  not 
only  Spain,  but  Naples,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  those  vast 
possessions  beyond  the  Atlantic  with  which  the  genius  of 
the  Genoese  navigator  had  dowered  the  Castilian  Crown. 
Three  years  after  this,  in  15 19,  the  death  of  his  pater- 
nal grandfather  (the  Emperor  Maximilian)  transferred  to 
him  the  sovereignty  of  Austria  and  of  the  other  hereditary 
possessions  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg. 

34.  The  death  of  Maximilian  transferred  to  Charles 
He  is  chosen  Maximilian's  hereditary  possessions,  but  not 
Emperor.  |j^g  imperial  crown ;  for  in  these  times  the 
Emperor  of  Germany  was  elected  by  the  Electors,  or  great 
princes  of  the  various  German  states.  Accordingly,  on  the 
death  of  Maximilian,  in  15 19,  it  became  the  duty  of  these 
Electors  to  choose  an  emperor  of  Germany.  Charles's 
most  formidable  competitor  was  Francis  I.  of  France, 
though  for  a  while  young  Henry  VIII.  of  England  sought 
the  glittering  prize.  Charles  was  chosen  ;  so  that  now 
Don  Carlos  I.  of  Spain  became  the  Emperor  Charles  V., 
and  as  such  he  was  crowned  with  the  diadem  of  Charle- 
magne at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  the  year  1520.  He  was  but 
twenty  years  old,  yet  he  ruled  a  dominion  more  extensive 
than  that  which  had  obeyed  the  sway  of  Alexander  or  of 
Augustus. 

35.  The  two  great  events  of  the  reign  of  the  Emperor 


AGE   OF  CHARLES   V.  3I9 

Charles  V.  are:  i.  The  rise  of  Protestantism;   2.  The  wars 
carried  on  under   the   lead  of   Francis  I.   of  "^^o  *='^'^'^ 

T-  •  ^1        ,  -.r  .         .  ,         events    of  the 

i:* ranee  against   Charles    v.,  to   manitain    the   reign, 
balance  of  power. 

36.  At  the  beginning  of  the  i6th  century  all  the  nations  \ 
of  Western  Europe  were  in  communion  with   Position  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church.     It  is  true  that   Church. 
from  time  to  time,  during  the  latter  half  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
there  had  been  religious  discontents  among  particular  men. 
Thus  in  the  12th  century  there  arose  in  the  South  of  France 
a  sect  called  the  Albigenses,  who  agreed  in  considering 
the  authority  claimed  by  the  popes  in  spiritual  matters,  as 
well  as  the  discipline  and  ceremonies  of  the  Roman  Church, 
erroneous  and  unlawful.     Very  similar  opinions  were  pro- 
claimed in  England  in  the  14th  century  by  Wycliffe,  and  in 
the  next  century  by  Huss  in  Bohemia.     But  these  revolts 
against  the  See  of  Rome  had  been  partial  and  temporary, 
and  they  were  all  put  down,  though  not  till  many  persons 
were  burnt  as  heretics. 

37.  It  happened,  however,  very  soon  after  the  beginning 
of  the  1 6th  century,  that  great  controversies  Beginnings  of 
on  matters  of  religion  arose.  There  was  com-  '^'ssent. 
plaint  at  many  practical  abuses  in  the  Church,  and  at  the 
claims  of  the  popes  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  nations; 
and  there  was  also  a  growing  feeling  among  many  that  not 
a  few  of  the  doctrines  which  were  believed,  and  of  the  cere- 
monies which  were  practiced,  in  the  Church,  were  contrary  y 
to  Scripture. 

38.  It  was  in  this  state  of  affairs  that  there  arose  a  dis- 
pute, trivial  indeed  in  its  nature,  but  which    Protestantism 

1  •      IT     1         n  1  -11  1  3*  ^^^  foun- 

kmdled  a  ilame  that  quickly  spread  over  most   tain, 
of  Western  Europe.     When  Leo  X.  came  to  the  Papal  chair, 
he  found  the  treasury  of  the  Church  exhausted  by  the  am- 
bitious  projects   of   his   predecessors.     He   therefore   had 
recourse  to  every  means  which  ingenuity  could  devise  foi 


320  MODERN  HISTORY. 


/recruiting  his  exhausted  finances,  and  among  these  he 
adopted  an  extensive  grant  of  indulgmces  to  those  who  con- 
tributed of  their  means  to  the  great  enterprises  of  the 
Church.*  The  Dominican  friars,  having  obtained  the 
monopoly  of  indulgences  in  Germany,  employed  as  their 
agent  Tetzel,  one  of  their  own  order,  who  carried  on  the 
traffic  in  a  manner  that  was  very  offensive,  and  especially 
so  to  the  Augustinian  friars. 

39.  One  of  these,  named  Martin  Luther,  Professor  of 
First  appear-    Theology  in  the  University  of  Wittenbere,  took 

ance  of  ,        ,        /  •  •  rr.  1         tt       •  •    , 

Luther.  the  lead  m  opposmg   letzel.     Havmg  vamly 

sought  to  procure  the  suppression  of  the  traffic  from  the 
Archbishop  of  Mag'deburg,  he  appealed  to  the  people  and 
to  men  of  letters  (15 17),  by  publishing  ninety-five  theses 
condemning  the  sale  of  indulgences  as  contrary  to  reason 
and  the  teachings  of  the  Church. 

40.  This  was  in  15 17.  Several  of  the  nobles  and  princes 
Progress  of  *^^  Germany  eagerly  embraced  his  cause,  for 
Luther.  ^^gy  were  angered  at  seeing  large  quantities 
of  money  drained  from  their  own  country'  to  be  expend- 
ed on  works  of  art  in  Italy.  The  Papal  party  accepted 
Luther's  challenge,  fully  believing  that  the  slightest  exer- 
tion of  power  would  at  once  stifle  opposition.  Leo  X.,  too 
proud  to  trouble  himself  about  the  opposition  of  a  simple 
friar,  published  a  bull,  or  decree,  condemning  the  theses  of 
Luther  as  impious  and  heretical  (1520).  The  bold  reformer 
at  once  declared  open  war  against  the  Papacy  by  appealing 
to  a  general  council,  and  burning  the  bull  of  excommunica- 
tion in  presence  of  a  vast  multitude  at  Wittenberg. 

41.  All  Germany  was   soon   in    a  ferment.     Frederick, 

'Indulgences  have  always  been  approved  and  authorized  by  the  highest 
councils  of  the  Catholic  Church ;  but  at  this  period  the  exercise  of  this 
privilege  was  attended  by  many  irregularities  and  scandals,  which  were 
afterward  severely  condemned  and  "energetically  prohibited"  by  the 
Council  of  Trent  as  a  "  most  plentiful  cause  of  abuses  flowing  into  Chris- 
tian nations." 


AGE   OF  CHARLES    V.  32 1 

Duke  of  Saxony,  was  one  of  the  first  converts  to  the  Ref- 
ortnatmi,  as  the  movement  now  began  to  be   spread  of  the 
called.     Other  German  princes  took  the  same   i^eformation. 
side  ;  for  indeed,   as   a  Catholic  historian  has  remarked, 
"Policy  became  more  Lutheran  than  religious  reform." 

42.  Pope  Leo  X.  was  now  roused  to  the  importance  of 
doing  something  to  arrest  the  spread  of  the  The  Diet  of 
new  doctrines,  and  soon  after  Charles  V.'s  'vvorms. 
election  as  emperor,  the  Pope  appealed  to  him  to  take 
the  matter  in  hand.  Accordingly,  when,  soon  after  his 
election,  the  young  Emperor  removed  from  Spain  to  Ger- 
many, he  summoned  an  assembly,  or  Diet,  of  the  German 
princes  at  the  city  of  Worms.  Luther  was  cited  to  appear 
before  the  Diet  of  Worms  in  1521.  Being  called  on  to 
retract,  he  refused  to  do  so  ;  and  though  he  was  dismissed 
under  "safe-conduct"  from  the  Emperor,  y^  Charles  V. 
promised  to  "use  all  endeavors  to  extirpate  the  heresy.'"' 

43.  Nevertheless,  the  new  doctrines  rapidly  spread,  and 
under  various  forms  took  deep  root  in  Ger- 
many, France,  Switzerland,  England,  Scotland, 

and  Scandinavia.  The  result  may  be  thus  stated  :  allowing 
for  considerable  exceptions,  the  nations  of  Teutonic  stock 
embraced  the  new  doctrines,  while  most  of  the  Latin  race 
adhered  to  the  faith  of  Rome. 

44.  An  attempt  was  made  to  check  the  movement  by  the 
Diet  of  Spires,   1529;   for  by  this  assemblage   Origin  of  the 

1  -I       .      1      /■     1  •  1  !•  name  Protes- 

a  decree    was    promulgated    forbiddmg    any  tant. 
change  until  the  meeting  of  a'  general  council.     Luther's 
friends  and  followers  protested    against  this   decree,    and 
hence  the  professors  of  the  reformed  religion  received  the 
common  name  of  Protestants. 

45.  We  now  turn  to  the  other  and  political  events  of  the 
age  of  Charles  V.,  namely,  the  complications   Rivalry  with 
with  Francis  L  of  France.     This  bitter  rivalry   FTa^cis  i. 
led   to  four  wars,  in  each  of  which  the  avowed  object  of 

14*  u 


322  MODERN  HISTORY. 

Francis  was  to  preserve  the  balance  of  power,  as  against 
the  menacing  greatness  of  the  House  of  Austria,  repre- 
sented by  Charles  V. 

46.  In  the  first  war,  which  was  mainly  an  Italian  war, 
Events  of  the  the  dccisive  action  was  the  battle  of  Pavi'a, 
first  war.  1 5 25.  Here  the  imperial  forces  shattered 
the  French  power  in  Italy ;  and  Francis  himself  was 
taken  prisoner  and  conveyed  to  Madrid,  where  he  lay  a 
year  in  prison.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he  was  released  by 
Charles  on  the  promise  that  he  would  give  up  the  Duchy 
of  Burgundy,  renounce  all  his  pretensions  to  Italian  terri- 
tory, and  surrender  his  two  sons  as  hostages. 

47.  Francis  had  made  the  stipulations  mentioned,  with- 

out ever   intending  to  keep  them :  the  result 

Second  war.  ,,.,..  .  ,.        ,  , 

was,  that  hostilities  were  immediately  renewed, 
and  the  second  war  (1527 -1529)  began.  This  time  Henry 
"VIII.  of  England  sided  with  Francis,  Who  was  also  sup- 
ported by  the  Pope.  The  French  aiTny  entered  Italy, 
but  was  there  repeatedly  defeated.  This  inclined  Francis 
to  peace ;  and  as  at  the  same  time  the  Emperor  was  anx- 
ious to  suppress  the  Reformation  in  Germany,  a  treaty  was 
made  in  1529  (Treaty  of  Cambray),  the  terms  of  which 
were  quite  unfavorable  to  Francis  I. 

48.  The  third  war  began  in  1535,  but  in  three  years 
Third  and  both  parties  M'ere  exhausted ;  so  by  the 
fourth  wars,  mediation  of  the  Pope  they  concluded  in 
1538  a  truce  that  was  to  last  for  ten  years.  Before  the 
time  of  truce  had  half  expired,  hostilities  were  renewed, 
and  the  fourth  war  commenced.  A  strange  alliance  it  was 
that  Francis  now  formed  ;  for  Solyman,  Sultan  of  Turkey, 
together  with  some  of  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany, 
united  with  the  French  against  Charles  V.,  who  was  aided 
by  Henry  VITI.  of  England.  The  French  king  won  a 
victory  over  the  Emperor  at  Cerisoles  ;  but  this  did  not 
prevent  the  invasion  of   France  both  from  England   and 


AGE   OF  CHARLES   V.  323 


from  Spain.  However,  the  Emperor  and  the  English 
monarch  did  not  act  in  concert,  and  accordingly  Francis 
concluded  a  peace  with  Charles  at  Crespy  in  1544.  Three 
years  after  this,  1547,  the  Emperor's  two  great  royal  con- 
temporaries, Francis  I.  and  Henry  VIII.,  died. 

49.  At    this    time    Charles   V.    became   engaged   in    a 
contest  with  the    Protestant   princes   of   Ger-   vvar  with  the 

1  1  c  1      •       Protestant 

many,  who  had  formed  a  league  for  their  princes, 
mutual  protection  at  Smalcald,  in  153 1.  A  great  council^ 
called  the  Council  of  Trent,  was  convened  against  Prot- 
estantism in  1545.  At  the  very  commencement  of  the 
war,  Maurice  of  Saxony,  one  of  the  leading  Protestant 
princes,  deserted  the  league  and  went  over  to  the  cause 
of  the  Emperor.  The  result  was  that  the  Protestant 
League  was  soon  thoroughly  broken  up. 

50.  The  triumph  of  the  Emperor  seemed  now  to  be 
complete.  Encouraged  by  this,  Charles  V.  Defection  of 
became  thoroughly  tyrannical.  But  his  over-  Maunce. 
bearing  course  excited  the  animosity  as  well  of  the  Catholic 
as  of  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany.  Maurice  of 
Saxony,  to  whom  he  had  owed  his  recent  successes,  and 
who  was  throughout  a  Protestant  at  heart,  deserted  the 
Emperor,  joined  the  Protestant  leaders,  and  formed  a  bold 
plan  for  compelling  the  Emperor  to  establish  religious 
freedom.  He  formed  an  alliance  with  Henry  II.  of  France 
(son  and  successor  of  Francis  I.),  and  proclaimed  war 
against  the  Emperor,  1552. 

51.  The  Emperor's  reverses  in  Germany  were  as  rapid  as 
had  been  his  success,  and  he  was  compelled  Triumph  of 
to  sign  a  treaty  at  Passau  (1552)  by  which  Protestantism, 
the  free  exercise  of  their  religion  was  secured  to  the 
Protestants.  Three  years  later  (1555)  the  principles  of 
mutual  toleration  were  formally  sanctioned  by  the  Diet 
of  Augsburg.  Thus  the  Reformation  gained  its  first 
decisive  political  triumph  in  Germany. 


324  MODERN  HISTORY. 

52.  And  now  the  clouds  thickened  fast  around  the 
The  Emperor's  Emperor.  The  son  of  his  now  dead  rival, 
troubles.  Francis  I.,  had  taken  up,  as  a  legacy,  the  long- 
standing quarrel,  and  was  vigorously  assailing  the  imperial 
power ;  while  the  Pope,  angered  at  the  Emperor's  sanction 
of  the  principles  of  toleration  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg 
became  the  avowed  enemy  of  the  House  of  Austria,  and 
entered  into  close  alliance  with  the  king  of  France. 

53.  In  this  state  of  affairs  Charles  V.  took  a  strange 
His  abdication  resolve :  he  determined  to  lay  aside  his 
and  death.  crowns.  Accordingly,  in  1556  he  resigned 
the  scepter  of  Spain  and  tlie  Two  Sicilies  to  his  son, 
Philip  II.,  and  the  imperial  crown  to  his  brother  Ferdi- 
nand :  he  then  retired  to  the  monaster}'  of  San  Yuste 
\yoos'ta\^  in  Spain,  being  resolved  there  to  end  his  days. 
In  the  solitude  of  the  convent  he  divided  his  time  be 
tween  religious  duties  and  the  making  of  mechanical  con- 
trivances. Towards  his  latter  end  he  conceived  the  ghastly 
fancy  of  having  his  own  funeral  rehearsed.  This  theatri- 
cal display  was  the  forerunner  of  the  dread  real  tragedy 
itself;  for  death  overtook  the  Emperor  in  1558. 

54.  In  summing  up  the  character  of  Charles  V.,  we 
Character  of  "^^y  Say  that  he  was  free  from  many  of  the 
Charles  V.  yj^^gg  ^f  j^jg  Singly  Contemporaries.  Yet  his 
virtues  were  rather  negative  than 
positive,  and  seem  to  have  been  the 
result  of  his  temperament,  which  was 
cold.  He  spoke  but  little,  and  a 
laugh  or  smile  was  rarely  seen  upon 
his  face.  In  some  respects  he  was  a 
man  of  comprehensive  views  ;  5'et  his 
ambition  w-as  selfish,  looking  mainly 
to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  House 
of  Austria.  He  had  great  successes 
in  his  time ;  but  in  the  end  he  was  doomed  to  see  all  Ws 


A 


ENGLAND    UNDER   HENRY  VIII.  325 

plans  fail.  Nor  is  the  cause  of  this  failure  difficult  to  find  : 
he  did  not  comprehend  his  times.  He  stands  to  us  as  the 
last  champion  and  the  last  support  of  the  Middle  Ages  j 
but  the  Middle  Ages  had  passed  away,  —  a  new  era  had 
been  ushered  in  by  the  new  intellectual  and  religious 
movement,  and  the  advance  of  the  modern  spirit  was  not 
to  be  checked  even  by  the  sovereign  of  Spain  and  the 
Indies. 

a.     ENGLAND  UNDER   HENRY  VIII. 

55.  In  the  year  1509  Henry  VII.,  the  first  of  the 
Tudor  line  of  English  sovereigns,  died,  leav-  Events  at  the 
ing  as  heir  to  the  throne  a  son,  who  is  known   accession. 

to  history  as  Henry  VIII.  The  young  king,  at  this  time 
eighteen  years  of  age,  was  handsome,  lively,  accomplished, 
and  learned.  Soon  after  his  accession  he  married  Kath- 
arine  of  Aragon,  widow  of  his  brother  Arthur,  and  aunt  of 
Charles  V.  of  Spain. 

56.  The  king  soon  became  mixed  up  with  continental 
politics,  into  which  he  was  drawn  by  the  fact  England's  for- 
that  the  two  great  sovereigns  of  France  and  ^'S"  relations. 
Spain  who  were  his  contemporaries,  namely,  Charles  V.  and 
Francis  I.,  both  sought  his  alliance  in  their  wars.  Henry 
was  generally  on  the  side  of  the  Emperor,  and  he  more 
than  once  invaded  France  ;  but  in  truth  nothing  veiy  great 
was  done  by  England  on  the  Continent,  and  altogether  the 
most  important  events  of  Henry  VIII.'s  reign  were  con- 
nected with  matters  that  happened  at  home. 

57.  During  the  first  twenty  years  of  this  reign  tha  most 
notable  figure  in  political  affairs  was  the  cele-   Greatn^ns  of 

Cardinal  'woi« 

brated  Cardinal  Wolsey.     Wolsey  was  the  son   sey. 
of  a  butcher ;    but   displaying  while   young  great   quick- 
ness  and   intelligence,    he    received   a  learned   education 
with  a  view  to  his  entering  the  Church.     His  first  employ- 
ment at  court  was  in  the  humble  office  of  chaplain;  but 


326  MODERN  HISTORY  ^ 

becoming  acquainted  with  the  young  monarch,  he  soon 
grew  to  be  a  great  favorite.  He  was  made  Archbishop 
of  York,  then  High  Chancellor  of  England,  and  finally 
became  Henry's  sole  minister. 

58.  It  was  in  the  early  part  of  this  reign  that  the 
The  king  and  doctrines  of  Luther  began  to  make  a  great 
the  Church.  g^jj.  j^^  Europe.  (Henry's  accession,  1509; 
Luther  before  the  Diet  of  Worms,  1521.)  At  this  time 
the  English  people  were  ardently  Roman  Catholic  in 
faith,  and  Henry  VIH.  distinguished  himself  by  writing 
a  book  against  the  Lutheran  doctrines.  The  Pope  was 
so  much  pleased  with  the  production,  that  he  gave  the 
English  king  the  title  of  Defender  of  the  Faith.  How- 
ever, Henry  was  not  destined  to  continue  long  an  ad- 
herent of  the  Roman  Pontiff,  and  we  are  now  to  see  the 
circumstances  under  which  the  great  schism  arose. 

59.  After  Henry  YHL  had   lived  eighteen   years   with 

Beginning  of  his  first  wife,  Katharine  of  Aragon,  he  pro- 
Henry's  wife-    ,  ,  .     '  .        .  °      '  ^ 

troubles.  fcsscd  to  feel  conscientious  scruples  respect- 

ing the  lawfulness  of  the  marriage,  on  account  of  her  hav- 
ing been  the  wife  of  his  brother.  About  the  same  time  he 
became  enamored  of  the  beautiful  and  fascinating  Anne 
Boleyn  \bdbl'vi\,  one  of  the  queen's  attendants.  He  now 
conceived  the  design  of  annulling  his  marriage  with  Katha- 
rine and  marrying  this  younger  and  more  agreeable  person. 
To  this  end  he  applied  to  the  Pope  for  a  divorce. 

60.  The  Pontiff  (Clement  VII.)  was  much  perplexed  by 
The  Pope  and  this  request  of  Henry  ;  for  he  could  not  accede 
Woisey.  tQ  jt  without  offending  Charles  V.,  one  of  his 
best  supporters  and  the  nephew  of  Queen  Katharine.  The  j 
process  went  on  for  several  years,  but  without  reaching  the 
conclusion  desired  by  the  king.  Woisey  at  length  fell 
under  the  king's  displeasure  for  not  acting  with  sufficient 
zeal  in  the  matter ;  he  was  stripped  of  all  his  places  of 
power  and  wealth,  and,  sinking  under  grief  and  mortifica' 


ENGLAND    UNDER  HENRY   VIII.  327 

tion,  he  died  in  1530.  In  his  last  moments  he  is  said  to 
have  exclaimed  to  his  attendant,  "  Had  I  but  served  mj 
God  as  diligently  as  I  have  served  my  king,  he  would  not 
have  given  me  over  in  my  gray  hairs."  * 

61.  The  negotiations  with  the  Pope  for  the  divorce  went 
on  for  two  years  longer,  and  endless  tricks  and  Henry's  deci- 
subterfuges  were  resorted  to  by  both  parties.    ®'^^  ®*^P' 

At  last  in  January,  1533,  Henry  took  the  final  step 
from  which  there  was  no  retreat,  —  he  secretly  married 
Anne  Boleyn ;  and  as,  soon  afterwards,  the  marriage  with 
Katharine  was  declared  invalid  by  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, Henry's  private  union  with  Anne  Boleyn  was 
acknowledged,  and  on  the  ist  of  June,  1533,  she  was 
crowned  queen,  with  imposing  splendor.  In  the  same  yeat 
was  born  their  celebrated  daughter  Elizabeth. 

62.  History  has  pronounced  a  severe  verdict  on  Henry 
VIII.  for  his  conduct  in  divorcing  Queen  verdict  on  his 
Katharine.  And  there  is  no  doubt  that  in  conduct, 
many  respects  it  deserves  condemnation.  But  recent  histo- 
rians, and  especially  Froude  in  his  "  History  of  England," 
have  endeavored  to  free  the  king  from  a  considerable  part 
of  the  burden  of  blame.  His  defenders  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that  Henry  VIII.  was  moved  by  a  public  motive  ; 
to  wit,  the  fear  of  civil  war  likely  to  break  out,  after  his 
death,  on  the  question  of  disputed  succession,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  he  had  no  living  son  and  heir  by  Katharine.  It  is 
further  urged  that  on  this  account  the  divorce  was  warmly 
desired  by  the  great  body  of  the  English  nation. 

*  Shakespeare  weaves  this  sentiment  into  the  touching  soliloquy  of 
ihe  Cardinal  in  the  drama  of  Henry  VIII. 

"  O  Cromwell,  Cromwell, 
Had  I  but  served  my  God  with  half  the  zeal 
1  served  my  king,  he  would  not  in  mine  age 
Have  left  me  naked  to  mine  enemies." 

Henry  VIII.,  Act  iji.  Scene  a. 


328  MODERN  HISTORY. 


63.  As  regards  the  relations  of  the  English  people  to  the 
The  English  Catholic  Church,  all  that  had  been  done  thus 
and  the  Pope.  f^^.  ^^^  ^.q  declare  that  the  Pope  had  no  juris- 
diction in  England.  There  was  no  thought  of  secession 
from  the  unity  of  the  Catholic  faith,  and  this  fact  Parlia- 
ment in  1534  took  pains  to  declare.  Nevertheless,  events 
soon  led  to  a  considerable  widening  of  the  breach.  Thus 
in  this  same  year,  1534,  the  Pope  declared  King  Henry 
VIII.  to  be  excommunicated  from  the  fellowship  of  the 
Church,  and  to  have  forfeited  the  allegiance  of  his  subjects. 

64.  The  English  king  now  concluded  that  there  was 
What  Henry  nothing  left  but  to  meet  defiance  with  defiance, 
aow  did.  Accordingly  the  Pope's  authority  in  England 
was  declared  to  be  abolished,  and  all  persons  were  required 
to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance,  which  pronounced  the  mar- 
riage with  Katharine  illegal,  and  the  children  by  Anne 
^oleyn  the  only  rightful  heirs.  In  addition.  Parliament  in 
1534  passed  an  act  declaring  the  king  to  be  the  Supreme 
Head  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  all  who  denied  him 
this  title  were  to  be  held  guilt}^  of  high  treason. 

65.  This  led  to  some  terrible  acts  of  persecution  against 
Persecution  Catholics,  whosc  consciences  forbade  their 
of  Catholics.  acknowledgment  that  the  king  was  the  head  of 
the  Church.  First  a  number  of  humble  friars  were  put  to 
death.  Then  came  nobler  victims,  —  the  venerable  Bishop 
Fisher,  and  the  illustrious  Sir  Thomas  More,  who  had  been 
Lord  Chancellor  after  the  disgrace  of  Wolsey,  and  who  was 
acknowledged  to  be  the  most  learned  and  eloquent  man  in 
England. 

66.  The  happiness  which  the  king  had  expected  to  find 
Fate  of  Anne  with  Anne  Bolcyn  was  destined  to  be  of  brief 
Boieyn.  duration.  In  less  than  three  years  after  the 
marriage,  charges  of  gross  misconduct  were  brought  against 
her;  she  was  brought  to  trial  before  a  high  court,  and, 
being  found  guilty,  was   condemned  and  beheaded,  15.36. 


ENGLAND    UNDER   HENRY   VIII.  329 

67.  Hitherto,  though  professing  independence  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  Henry  still  maintained  and  changes  in  re- 
enforced  by  bloody  laws  most  of  its  doctrines,  ^'sion- 
Now,  however,  he  took  measures  for  altering  the  system  of 
worship  to  something  nearer  the  Lutheran  model,  and  also 
for  suppressing  the  numerous  monasteries  throughout  the 
country.  As  many  as  645  monasteries,  2374  chantries  and 
chapels,  90  colleges,  and  1 10  hospitals  were  broken  up  by  this 
powerful  but  unscrupulous  monarch.  He  partly  seized  the 
revenues  for  his  own  use,  and  partly  gave  them  away  to  the 
persons  who  most  actively  assisted  him.  In  the  mean  time 
it  was  difficult  to  tell  what  the  state  religion  really  was ; 
for  if  not  Catholicity,  it  was  also  not  Protestantism.  And, 
indeed,  for  many  years  Henry  vacillated  so  much  in  his 
opinions,  and  enforced  them  with  such  severe  enactments, 
that  many  persons  of  both  religions  were  burnt  as  heretics. 

68.  The  day  after   the   execution  of   Anne  Boleyn,  the 
kino-  married  Tane  Seymour  ;  but  in  the  follow-   Henry's  sub- 

1  T     1  1    XT  1  -1     sequent  mar- 

mg  year  she  died,  and  Henry  then  married  riages. 
Anne  of  Cleves,  a  German  princess.  He  was  not  pleased 
with  her  person,  however;  so  he  divorced  her  by  an  act  of 
Parliament.  Next  he  married  Catherine  Howard  (1540), 
but  had  not  been  long  united  to  her  when  he  discovered 
that  she  had  been  guilty  of  evil  conduct  both  before  and 
since  her  marriage.  The  unfortunate  woman  was  beheaded. 
To  close  this  tragic  business  of  Henry's  marriages,  it  may 
be  added  that  he  took  for  his  sixth  wife  Catherine  Parr, 
widow  of  Lord  Latirner  (1542).  She  seems  to  have  been  a 
person  of  great  discretion,  who  knew  how  to  humor  her 
arbitrary  lord,  and  she  survived  the  king,  whose  death  took 
place  five  years  afterwards. 

69.  Henry  VHI.  died  in  1547,  being  in  his  fifty-sixth 
year.     The  common  verdict  which  has  been   Common  ver- 

1  1  .         1        1  •  •  .         1  ,         "iict  on  Henry 

pronounced  on  him  by  historians  is  that  he   viii. 

was  a  remorseless  tyrant.     "  If  all  the  pictures  and  patterns 


33©  MODERN  HISTORY. 

of  a  merciless  prince,"  says  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  "  were  lost 
in  the  world,  they  might  all  again  be  painted  to  the  life  out 
of  the  story  of  this  king."  "  Perhaps  no  other  monarch 
since  the  emancipation  of  woman  from  polygamy,"  says 
Mackintosh,  "  has  put  to  death  two  wives  on  the  scaffold, 
divorced  another  whom  he  owned  to  be  faultless  after 
twenty-four  years  of  wedded  friendship,  and  rejected  a 
fourth,  without  imputing  blame  to  her,  from  the  first  im- 
pulse of  personal  distrust." 

70.  In  recent  times  a  tendency  to  modify  the  rigor  of 
Milder  judg-  this  judgment  has  shown  itself.  It  is  urged* 
ments.  ^^j^^j-  ^j^  examination  of  contemporary  history 
shows  that  for  some  of  his  arbitrary  and  seemingly  cruel 
acts  he  had  proper  justification,  and  that  many  other  meas- 
ures which  we  must  regard  as  reprehensible  were  forced 
upon  him  by  the  necessities  of  the  difficult  and  perilous 
times  in  which  he  and  England  found  themselves. 

71.  Though  Henry  VIII.  ruled  with  a  strong  hand,  his 
Benefits  of  his  reign  was  not  unfavorable  to  the  progress  of 
reign.  liberty.  He  first  made  Parliament  a  real 
power;  and  though  that  body  was  servile  in  doing  his 
bidding,  yet  it  then  learned  its  strength 
and  established  precedents  that  were 
afterwards  used  to  humble  the  inso- 
lence of  kings.  Though  he  struck  at 
the  high  heads,  he  favored  the  common- 
alty: the  taxes  were  light,  the  govern- 
ment was  energetic,  and  the  people 
were  contented  and  well  to  do  :  so  that,  ,,,,, 

,,..,        ,.,.,.  ,,.  Henry  VIII. 

m  spite  of  his  faults,  his  follies,  and  his 

crimes,  his  reign  tended,  under  Divine   Providence,  to  the 

prosperity  and  glory  of  England. 

*  See  Froude's  History  of  England. 


RISE  OF  THE  DUTCH  REPUBLIC.  33 1 


3.     RISE  OF   THE    DUTCH    REPUBLIC. 

72.  The  name  of  the  Netherlands  is  at  present  given 
only  to  the  kingdom  of  Holland.  In  the  i6th  Extent  of  the 
century,  however,  that  name  denoted  a  cluster  Netherlands, 
of  provinces  extending  from  the  Zuyder  Zee  and  the  Dollart 
to  the  northern  frontiers  of  France,  and  forming  that  tract 
of  fertile  and  alluvial  land  which  is  at  present  occupied  by 
the  two  kingdoms  of  Holland  and  Belgium.  These  prov- 
inces were  a  part  of  the  extensive  dominion  which  the  Em-' 
peror  Charles  V.,  on  his  abdication  in  1556,  resigned  into 
the  hands  of  his  son,  Philip  II.,  King  of  Spain. 

73.  At  this  period  the  Netherlanders  had  by  industry  and 
intelligence  attained  a  high  degree  of  prosper-   spirit  of  the 
ity.     They  were  the  boldest  navigators  and  the   p«°p'«- 
most  skillful  manufacturers  in  Europe.     They  were  ardent 
lovers  of  civil  liberty,  and  they  were  now  eagerly  embracing 
the  principles  of  the  Reformation. 

74.  This  last  fact  was  very  offensive  to  Philip  II.  The 
religious  zeal  of  Charles  V.  had,  in  passing  character  of 
into  the  gloomy  character  of  his  son,  taken  the  P^ihp. 
form  of  a  dark  fanaticism.  He  was  a  silent,  plotting,  pa- 
tient man,  and,  sitting  in  his  palace  of  the  Escurial,  he  wove 
his  webs  of  political  intrigue.  And  now,  above  all,  his 
somber  soul  brooded  on  how  the  heresy  that  had  spread 
into  the  Low  Countries  might  be  rooted  out,  for  he  saw  that 
if  this  were  not  done,  a  separation  between  the  Nether- 
lands and  the  power  of  Spain  was  inevitable. 

75.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  the  king  had  resolved 
to  carry  on  the  government  in  his  own  way.  The  quarrel 
and  independently  of  the  will  of  the  country  as  t>egins. 
expressed  by  the  council  of  nobles.  The  next  step  was  the 
introduction  of  the  terrors  of  the  Inquisition.  The  people 
rose  in  a  species  of  frenzy,  and  within  foui  days  no  less  than 
four  hundred  churches,  with  everything  they  contained,  were 


332  MODERN  HISTORY. 

destroyed.  This  riotous  outrage  infuriated  the  king,  and 
accordingly  he  sent  the  Duke  of  Alva,  a  relentless  soldier, 
with  a  large  force  to  crush  the  insurrection,  1567.  Then 
followed  five  years  of  dreadful  work.  The  Duke  of  Alva, 
at  the  head  of  the  famous  "  Blood  Council,"  seized,  impris- 
oned, and  beheaded ;  and  in  six  months  he  had  passed  a 
sentence  of  death  upon  every  inhabitant  of  the  country ! 

76.  In  this  sad  situation  the  man  to  whom  the  Nether- 
Events  under  landers  looked  for  deliverance  was  William  of 
Orange.  Nassau,  Princc  of  Orange,  and  known  in  his- 
tory as  William  the  Silent.  He  was  a  Protestant,  and  now 
took  up  the  cause  of  the  people.  He  led  an  army  out  of 
Germany  into  the  Netherlands ;  but  as  the  Spaniards  held 
all  the  fortified  towns,  he  could  for  a  time  accomplish  very 
little.  The  capture  of  Brille  (1572)  was  the  first  success. 
Then  the  people  of  the  province  of  Holland,  under  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  cast  off  the  Spanish  yoke.  The  province 
of  Zealand  followed.  Various  towns  were  taken,  and  the 
gallant  defense  of  Harlem  convinced  Alva  of  the  inability 
of  strong  measures.     He  accordingly  asked  to  be  recalled, 

1573- 

77.  Alva  was  succeeded  by  Requesens,  commander  of 
Progress  of  Castilc,  a  man  of  mild  disposition.  The  war 
the  war.  g^j^  ^yent  On.  The  defense  of  Leyden  (1574), 
which  was  saved  by  cutting  the  dikes  and  flooding  the 
Spanish  trenches,  was  a  great  blow  to  the  pride  and  power 
of  the  Spaniards.  But  they  proved  too  powerful  for  the 
two  revolted  provinces.  Then  the  Dutch  in  their  despair 
offered  the  sovereignty  of  their  country  to  Elizabeth  of 
England,  but  the  virgin  queen,  though  a  Protestant,  did 
not  then  wish  to  interfere.  The  war  raged  as  fiercely  as 
ever. 

78.  Meanwhile  Requesens  died ;  and  the  Spanish  garri- 
Events  to  the   son  Committed  such  atrocities  at  Ant^verp  that 

death   of  Wil-       ,,      ,  .  ,    .  .  ,,     , 

Ham.  all  the  provmces  entered  mto  a  union  called 


RISE   OF   THE  DUTCH  REPUBLIC.  33  ■ 


the  Factficaiion  of  Ghent  (1576),  William  of  Orange  being 
chosen  chief  magistrate,  with  the  title  of  Stadtholder.  The 
struggling  Dutch  were  able  to  confirm  their  constitution  in 
1579,  when  the  Union  of  Utrecht  formed  the  seven  north- 
ern provinces  into  the  Dutch  Republic,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  William. 

79.  Philip  II.  had  set  a  reward  on  the  head  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  and  the  dagger  of  an  assassin  de-  Assassination 
prived  the  states  of  their  able  and  patriotic  the  sequel, 
leader.  Their  gratitude  made  them  appoint  his  son  Mau- 
rice, a  youth  of  eighteen,  in  his  stead.  He  proved  himself 
a  valiant  captain  in  the  war  with  Spain,  which  continued  to 
rage  in  the  southern  provinces.  The  Spanish  general,  the 
Duke  of  Parma,  took  Antwerp,  which  was  a  great  blow 
to  the  states.  Elizabeth  now  resolved  to  aid  the  Dutch. 
The  Earl  of  Leicester  accordingly  was  sent  with  an  English 
force  of  6000  men  to  Zutphen,  near  which  the  heroic  Sid- 
ney received  his  mortal  wound. 

80.  The  bitter  contest  continued  for  several  years  yet 
Towns  were  taken  on  both  sides.  The  pa-  stubbornness 
tience  of  the  Netherlandeis,  however,  sustained  °f  ^^^  Dutch. 
them  through  all  their  trials,  and  finally  the  Spanish  com- 
mander gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  subjugation  of  the 
United  Provinces  was  impracticable.  The  pride  of  Spain 
was  reduced  to  treat  with  the  Dutch  as  an  independent 
nation,  and  under  the  mediation  of  France  and  England 
a  truce  for  ten  years  was  made,  1609. 

81.  Thus,  after  a  severe   struggle  of  thirty-seven  years, 
the  independence  of  the  Dutch  Republic  was   „ 

,       ,  .  -11      1  n  J-   Summing  up. 

secured,  though  it  was  not  till  the  Peace  of 
Westphalia  (1648)  that  this  independence  was  acknowl- 
edged by  Spain.  During  the  conflict  the  Dutch  had  in- 
creased in  wealth,  had  made  extensive  acquisitions  in  the 
East  Indies,  and  had  established  the  most  powerful  navy 
in  Europe. 


334  MODERN  HISTORY. 


4.    CIVIL  AND   RELIGIOUS  WARS  OF   FRANCE. 

82.  The  history  of  France  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
Subject  of  the  i^th  century  is  mainly  taken  up  with  a  series 
chapter.  ^f  ^^j^jj  ^^^  religious  wars  between  the  Catho- 
lics and  Protestants  within  the  country. 

Connecting  Note.  —  On  the  death  of  Francis  I.  (1547),  the  crown 
passed  to  his  son,  Henry  II.,  who  was  married  to  Catherine deMedicis, 
a  wily  and  artful  Italian.  After  a  reign  of  twelve  years  (1547- 1559) 
he  met  his  death  accidentally  at  a  tournament  held  in  honor  of  the 
marriage  of  his  daughter  Elizabeth  with  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  His  son,  a 
sickly  boy  of  sixteen,  now  ascended  the  throne  under  the  title  of  Francis 
II.  The  guardians  of  the  feeble  sovereign  and  managers  of  the  Court 
were  the  two  brothers  Guise, —  Francis  the  general,  and  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine,  uncles  of  the  fair  young  queen.  The  nominal  sovereignty 
under  Francis  II.  lasted  only  seventeen  months ;  for  at  the  end  of  that 
time  he  died,  and  his  young  widow,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  sighing  a  sad 
farewell  to  beautiful  France,  sailed  back  to  Scotland.  Two  other  sons 
besides  Francis  were  left  by  Henry  II.  The  eldest,  Charles  IX.,  was 
now  but  nine  years  old ;  so  the  queen-mother,  Catherine  de  Medicis, 
claimed  the  custody  of  her  son,  and  became  in  fact,  if  not  in  name, 
regent  of  the  kingdom.  This  brings  the  train  of  events  up  to  the  epoch 
at  which  begins  a  direful  series  of  civil  and  religious  wars. 

83.  Protestantism  had  taken  root  in  France ;  but  the 
Form  of  French  French  Protcstants  were  followers,  not  of 
Protestantism.  Luthcr,  but  of  John  Calvin,  a  Frenchman  by 
birth,  who  had  settled  at  Geneva.  His  teaching  was  a 
greater  departure  from  the  doctrines  of  the  Roman  Church 
than  was  that  of  Luther.  The  followers  of  Calvin  grew  to 
be  very  numerous  in  France,  where  they  were  known  by 
the  name  of  Huguenots.^  The  Huguenots  were  cruelly 
persecuted  by  Francis  I.,  in  whose  reign  they  first  came  into 
notice,  as  they  were  also  by  his  successor  Henry  II.,  and 
by  his  successor,  Francis  II. 

*  The  name  "Huguenot"  is  a  corruption  of  the  German  word  "Eid- 
genossen,"  that  is,  persons  associated  by  oath,  —  "  Covenanters." 


CIVIL   AND  RELIGIOUS   WARS  OF  FRANCE      335 

84.  These  persecutions  were  the  underlying  cause  of  a 
series  of  wars  which  began  in  France  in  Nature  of  the 
1562.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  these  ^^""^  waged, 
wars  were  quite  as  much  political  as  religious  ;  for,  so  far  as 
the  great  actors  were  concerned,  it  was  personal  ambition 
fully  as  much  as  religious  zeal  that  animated  them.  We 
must,  accordingly,  guard  carefully  against  misinterpreting 
the  nature  of  this  contest.  For  there  were  few  on  either 
side  that  cared  for  the  things  in  whose  name  they  fought ; 
while  on  both  sides  the  most  frightful  crimes  were  com- 
mitted in  the  name  of  religion. 

85.  During  the  brief  reign  of  the  feeble  Francis  II.  the 
all-powerful  Guises,  together  with  Catherine  Antagouism 
de  Medicis,  governed  the  country.  This  fact  °^  *^^  leaders, 
excited  the  anger  and  jealousy  of  the  Princes  de  Bourbon, 
who  were  of  the  blood  royal,  and  claimed  a  direct  descent 
from  Saint  Louis.  One  of  these  princes,  Antoine  de  Bour- 
bon, enjoyed  the  title  of  King  of  Navarre ;  another  occu- 
pied the  principality  of  Conde.  These  nobles,  being 
excluded  from  all  court  influence,  formed  an  opposition 
party  to  the  Guises.  The  Prince  of  Condd  embraced  the 
Reformed  religion  and  became  a  Huguenot,  and  his  ex- 
ample was  followed  by  Admiral  Coligny  \kol-len-ye''\  and 
other  powerful  persons.  The  partisans  of  the  opposing  fac- 
tions arranged  themselves  on  the  one  side  or  on  the  other. 

86.  In  1562  an  event  happened  which  precipitated 
France  into  civil  war.  The  Duke  of  Guise,  Events  of  the 
passing  through  the  little  town  of  Vassy  in  ^^'■• 
Champagne,  found  some  Protestants  singing  hymns  in  a 
barn  :  his  attendants  insulted  them  ;  blows  were  given  and 
returned,  and  sixty  of  the  Protestants  were  killed.  This 
kindled  the  flame.  For  a  year  there  was  war,  or  rather 
mutual  massacre.  The  contest  went  on  till  the  following 
year,  1563,  when  hostilities  were  brought  to  a  close  by  a 
treaty;  but  this  was  soon  broken,  and  between  1567  and 


336  MODERN  HISTORY. 

1570  the  whole  period  was  a  continuous  war,  interrupted 
only  by  short  and  unsteady  truces.  The  Treaty  of  St. 
Gennain  (1570)  put  an  end  to  the  contest. 

87.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  contest  the  chief  part  on 
Settlement  by  the  Reformed  side  had  been  taken  by  the 
marriage.  young  Henry  of  Bourbon,  King  of  Navarre, 
who  was  next  heir  to  the  crown  of  France  after  the  sons  of 
Henry  II.  To  cement  the  peace  a  marriage  was  proposed 
bet^veen  the  young  king  of  Navarre  and  the  Princess 
Margaret,  the  beautiful  sister  of  the  king  of  France.  The 
proposal  diffused  universal  joy,  and  both  the  Catholics  and 
the  Protestants  came  to  witness  the  nuptials,  which  were 
celebrated  on  the  i8th  of  August,  1572. 

88.  The  events  which  led  to  the  fearful  tragedy  that  ac- 
Word  of  cau-  companied  this  marriage  have  been  so  misrep- 
**""•  resented  by  party  writers  on  every  side,  that 
it  is  desirable  to  state  the  facts  as  they  have  been  narrated 
by  the  principal  actors  themselves.* 

89.  Charles  IX.,  feeble  in  body  and  weak  in  intellect, 
Plots  and  had  just  attained  his  legal  majorit}',  but  the 
counterplots,  j-g^j  power  of  the  state  was  wielded  by  Cathe- 
rine de  Medicis.  In  some  of  his  conversations  with  the 
Protestant  lords  Charles  complained  very  bitterly  of  the 
state  of  thraldom  in  which  he  was  held,  and  Coligny,  com- 
miserating the  unhappy  monarch,  promised  to  aid  in  his 
deliverance.  The  king  soon  began  to  vaunt  of  his  design 
to  assume  the  reins  of  power  and  to  remove  his  mother  and 
brother  from  the  court.  They  took  the  alarm,  and  easily 
discovering  by  whose  counsels  the  king  was  influenced,  re- 
solved to  assassinate  the  Admiral  Coligny.  The  attempt 
was  made,  but  failed.  When  the  Huguenot  leaders  discov- 
ered the  real  instigators  of  the  plot,  they  very  imprudently 
proclaimed  their  intention  to  exact  heavy  vengeance  upou 
Catherine  and  her  favorite  son  Henry. 

'  *  The  following  account  is  based  mainly  on  the  narradve  of  Tayler. 


CIVIL    AND   RELIGIOUS    WARS   OF  FRANCE      337 

90.  In   this   emergency   Catherine    convoked    a    secret 
council   of   her  friends,  and  there   it  was    re-   Preparations 
solved  to  strike,  on  the  eve  of  St.  Bartholomew,   edy. 

a  blow  that  would  effectually  crush  the  Huguenot  party. 
Late  in  the  evening  of  August  23d  Catherine  went  to 
Charles  IX.,  accompanied  by  her  chosen  advisers,  and  told 
him  that  the  Protestants  had  formed  a  plan  for  the  extermi- 
nation of  the  royal  family,  which  could  be  frustrated  only 
by  the  most  immediate  and  decisive  measures.  The  feeble 
monarch,  who  was  not  many  degrees  removed  from  idiocv, 
exhibited  every  sign  of  helpless  alarm :  whilst  in  this  condi- 
tion his  mother  placed  before  him  the  dreadful  decree  of 
extermination,  and  demanded  his  signature.  Charles  at 
first  refused,  and  for  some  time  it  was  doubtful  whether  his 
consent  would  be  obtained.  At  length  he  exclaimed,  "  I 
consent,  provided  that  you  kill  them  all,  and  leave  no  sur- 
vivor to  reproach  me." 

91.  On  the  night  of  August  23-24  the  dreadful  tragedy 
known  as  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  Bartholomew's 
began.  The  tocsin  was  sounded  at  two  in  the  ^^^• 
morning.  All  had  been  arranged  beforehand,  and  the 
participants  carried  a  scarf  on  the  left  arm  and  a  white 
cross  in  the  hat,  for  better  distinction.  Death  reigned 
throughout  Paris  ;  the  Huguenots  rushed  out  of  their  houses 
half  naked  at  the  sound  of  the  tocsin  and  the  cries  of  their 
brethren,  and  were  slaughtered  in  the  streets.  Coligny 
was  one  of  the  first  victims  ;  but  Henry  of  Navarre  saved 
his  life  from  the  personal  fury  of  the  king  by  promising  to 
go  to  mass.  After  three  days  of  direful  destruction  there 
fell  a  dead  silence  upon  the  streets  of  Paris,  —  there  was 
nobody  left  to  slaughter.  Ten  thousand  victims  are  said  to 
have  fallen  in  the  city.  Royal  orders  were  then  forwarded 
through  the  provinces  for  the  renewal  of  the  massacre,  and 
forty-five  thousand  more  victims  were  sacrificed. 

92.  Queen  Catherine  and  her  son  had  anticipated  as  th6 

15  V 


338  MODERN  HISTORY. 

result  of  this  blow  a  reign  of  submission  and  the  termina- 
Conductofthe  tion  of  the  civil  wars.  But  they  were  deceived. 
Huguenots.  yj^g  Huguenots,  Utterly  desperate,  flew  to  arms : 
the  war  broke  out  with  greater  fury  than  before,  and  it  was 
terminated  only  after  a  year  of  bloodshed. 

93.  Less  than  two  years  after  the  fatal  night  of  St.  Bar- 
France  under  tholomew,  Charles  IX.  died  at  the  age  of  twen- 
Henry  III.  ty-four  (1574).  His  brother,  the  third  son  of 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  now  came  to  the  throne  with  the  title 
of  Henry  III.  During  his  reign  of  fifteen  years  France 
was  in  a  frightful  state  of  anarchy,  confusion,  and  bloodshed, 
and  in  1589  Henry  III.  died  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin. 
With  him  the  House  of  Valois,  which  had  ruled  in  France 
during  more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half,  became  extinct. 

94.  The  crown  now  came  of  right  to  Henry  of  Navarre, 
Henry  of  Na-    and   indeed  Henry  III.  had  before  his  death 

varre  wins  ........  ,  .  _, 

the  crown.  rccognized  his  right  to  the  succession.  But 
this  prince,  who  now  took  the  title  of  Henry  IV.  {Henri 
Quatre),  had  to  fight  for  his  throne.  He  won  two  signal 
victories  over  his  enemies,  at  Arques  [ark'\  (1589)  and  at 
Ivry  (1590),  and  three  years  later  he  removed  all  grounds 
of  opposition  by  himself  becoming  a  Catholic. 

95.  Henry  IV.,  the  first  king  of  the  House  of  Bourbon, 
Settlement  of    was  crowncd    King  of   France  and   Navarre, 

the  religious  °  . 

disputes.  1594-     His  first  care  was  to  terminate  the  re- 

ligious disputes  which  had  so  long  distracted  the  kingdom. 
For  this  purpose  he  in  1508  promulgated  the  celebrated 
Edict  of  Nantes,  which  re-established  all  the  favors  that 
had  ever  been  granted  to  the  Protestants  by  other  princes.* 

*  The  Edict  of  Nantes  allowed  the  Protestants  the  exercise  of  their 
worship  ;  it  left  open  to  them  admission  to  all  employments  ;  established 
in  every  parliament  a  chamber  composed  of  magistrates  of  each  relig- 
ion ;  tolerated  the  general  assemblies  of  the  Reformers ;  authorized 
them  to  raise  taxes  among  themselves  for  the  benefit  of  their  church ; 
provided  ministers  for  them ;  and  granted  them  fortified  places  of  safety, 
the  principal  of  which  was  Rochelle'. 


AGE  OF  QUEEN  ELIZABETH.  339 

The  Edict  of  Nantes  put  an  end  to  the  disastrous  wars 
which  for  thirty-six  years  had  desolated  the  kingdom. 

96.  The  administration  of  Henry  IV.  and  of  his  saga- 
cious minister  Sully  was  a  blessing  to  France  ;  France  under 
agriculture  revived,  commerce  was  restored,  ^^^"'■y  ^v. 
new  branches  of  industry  were  opened,  and  vexatious  im- 
posts abolished.  The  king  became  the  most  popular  of 
sovereigns,  and,  despite  some  weaknesses  of  character,  was 
unquestionably  the  most  honorable  and  humane. 

97.  The  career  of   Henry  IV.  was  ended  in  the   year 
16 10   by  the   hand   of   an   assassin.     On  the 

14th  of  May,  as  he  was  riding  through  the 
streets  of  Paris  in  his  carriage,  a  fanatic  named  Ravaillac 
\rd-vah-yak'^  mounted  on  the  wheel,  removed  the  leather 
curtain,  and  reaching  over  stabbed  the  king  with  two  blows, 
of  which  the  second  was  instantly  fatal.  Such  was  the  end 
of  Henri  Quatre,  surnamed  by  some  the  Great,  and  by 
others  the  Father  of  his  People. 

5.    AGE  OF   QUEEN   ELIZABETH. 

98.  The  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  is  in  every  respect 
one  of  the  greatest  eras  in  English  history.     It  character  of 
was  an  age  of  wonderful  activity  both  material  *^^  ^se. 

and  intellectual,  an  age  of  great  fullness  of  national  life ; 
and  this  appeared  in  bold  maritime  enterprises,  in  deeds 
that  gave  England  a  proud  pre-eminence  in  the  politics  of 
Europe,  and  in  the  most  original  and  powerful  literary  crea- 
tions ever  witnessed. 

99.  Elizabeth  was   the   daughter   of  Henry  VIII.   and 
Anne  Boleyn.     She  came  to  the  throne  at  the   Genealogy  of 
age  of  twenty-five,   in   the  year  1558,  that  is,    Elizabeth, 
eleven  years  after  the  death  of  her  father. 

Connecting  Note.  — The  interval  between  Henry  VIII.  and  Eliza* 
Ijeth  was  filled  by  two  brief  reigns. 

I.  Reign  of  Edward  VI.  lasted  for  six  years  {1547- 1553).     Edward, 


340  MODERN  HISTORY. 

who  was  the  son  of  Henry  VIII.  by  his  third  wife,  Jane  Seymour,  was 
but  ten  years  old  when  his  father  died ;  so  the  government  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  one  of  the  great  nobles,  Somerset,  named  the  Protector; 
but  Somerset  was  brought  to  the  scaffold  by  another  of  the  great  lords, 
named  Warwick.  Warwick  married  his  son  to  the  Lady  Jane  Grey,  a 
beautiful  and  accomplished  princess  of  the  blood  royal ;  and  when  the 
young  king  Edward  died  at  sixteen  (1553),  Warwick  caused  Lady  Jane 
Grey  to  assume  the  crown.  However,  she  can  hardly  be  said  to  have 
worn  it,  for  in  ten  days  a  stronger  party  set  Mary,  daughter  of  Henry 
VHL  by  his  first  wife,  Katharine  of  Aragon,  on  the  throne.  Mary  caused 
Lady  Jane  Grey  and  her  husband  to  be  beheaded. 

2.  Reign  of  Mary  lasted  for  five  years  (1553 -1558).  Under  Edward 
the  Protestant  party  had  held  sway  in  England;  but  Mary,  who  was  an 
ardent  Catholic,  caused  all  the  laws  in  regard  to  Protestantism  to  be  re- 
pealed, and  many  men  were  burned  for  their  religion.  The  chief  scene 
of  these  tragedies  was  Smithfield,  in  London.  Jn  order  to  strengthen 
herself  against  the  Protestant  interest,  she  married  Philip  IL  of  Spain, 
son  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V. ;  but  the  people,  who  detested  the  Span- 
ish alliance,  took  care  that  Philip  should  have  no  power  in  England,  — 
and  on  the  whole  the  result  was  to  withdraw  the  English  more  and 
more  from  the  Pope.  With  the  death  of  Mary  in  1558  came  a  new  turn 
of  affairs. 

100.  From  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  her  birth,  Eliza- 
Viev^s  as  to  beth's  right  of  succession  was  denied  by  all  the 
the  succession.  CathoHcs  at  homc  and  abroad.  By  the  Cath- 
olic party  in  England  the  person  looked  upon  as  the  legiti- 
mate sovereign  was  the  then  young,  beautiful,  and  fasci- 
nating Mary  Queen  of  Scots.* 

101.  Under  these  circumstances  Elizabeth  deemed  that 
her  best  course  lay  in  restoring  and  maintaining  the  Prot- 

*  Mary  of  Scotland  was  the  daughter  of  James  V.  of  Scotland,  and 
grand-niece  of  Henrj'  VHL  This  princess,  celebrated  in  history  as 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  had  been  brought  up  in  the  Catholic  faith  at  the 
court  of  France.  In  1558  (the  same  year  in  which  Elizabeth  came  to 
the  throne)  Mary  was  married  to  the  Dauphin  of  France,  who,  the  next 
year,  by  the  death  of  his  father,  became  king  of  France,  under  the  title  of 
Francis  II.  In  the  following  year,  however  (1560),  Francis  II.  died,  and 
in  1561  Mary  returned  to  Scotland  to  assume  the  personal  government 
of  that  country. 


AGE  OF  QUEEN  ELIZABETH.  341 

estant  religion  in  her  own  country,  and  in  seeking  to  support 
it  in  all  others  where  the  people  were  favorable  Elizabeth's 
to  it.  Accordingly,  soon  after  her  accession  v°^'^^y- 
two  celebrated  acts  —  the  Supremacy  Bill  and  the  Act  of 
Uniformity  —  were  passed  for  the  purpose  of  crushing  the 
political  influence  of  Catholicism.  By  the  Supremacy  Bill 
all  clergymen  and  all  holding  offices  under  the  crown  were 
compelled  to  take  an  oath  ascribing  to  Elizabeth  all  power 
both  in  the  Church  and  State  of  England,  and  abjuring  the 
temporal  and  spiritual  jurisdiction  of  any  foreign  prince  or 
prelate ;  the  Act  of  Uniformity  prohibited  any  one  from 
attending  the  ministry  of  any  clergyman  who  was  not  of  the 
established  religion.  These  laws  were  enforced  with  great 
severity,  and  under  them  many  Catholics  suffered  death. 

102.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Puritans  arose  in  Eng- 
land. Many  Protestants  who  had  fled  to  the  Rise  of  Puri- 
Continent  from  the  persecution  under  Mary,  t''n»sm. 
returned  on  the  accession  of  Elizabeth.  For  a  time  they 
reunited  themselves  with  the  Church  of  England  ;  but  being 
pressed  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  Elizabeth  as  Su- 
preme Head  of  the  Church,  they  separated  from  that  body 
in  a  few  years.  As  they  professed  a  desire  to  establish  a 
purer  form  of  worship,  they  received  in  derision  the  name 
of  Puritans.  As  they  refused  also  to  be  bound  by  the 
Acts  of  Supremacy  and  of  Uniformity,*  they  were  fined 
and  imprisoned  in  great  numbers  during  the  rest  of  this 
reign. 

103.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  had  in  1561  returned  to  Scot- 
land. After  seven  stormy  years  there  she  was  xhe  Queen  of 
compelled  to  flee  across  the  border  (her  in-   Scots. 

fant  son  being  proclaimed  King  of  Scotland  under  the  title 
of  James  VI.  f),  and  came  to  implore  the  pity  of  Elizabeth. 

*  From  this  fact  the  Puritans  are  often  called  Nonconformists. 
t  James  VI.  of  Scotland  became,  on  the  death  of  Elizabeth,  King  of 
England,  under  the  title  of  James  I.     See  p.  350. 


342  MODERN-  HISTORY. 

The  English  queen  imprisoned  her  in  Bolton,  Tutbury,  and 
Fotheringay  castles  for  eighteen  years. 

104.  During  this  time  Elizabeth  was  constantly  harassed 
Plots  and  by  plots  formed  by  her  Catholic  subjects  in  be- 
their  result.  j^^j£  q£  ^^  Queen  of  Scots.  An  act  was  passed 
declaring  that  any  person  by  or  for  whom  any  plot  should 
be  made  against  the  Queen  of  England  should  be  guilty  of 
treason.  When,  soon  after,  a  gentleman  named  Babington 
formed  a  conspiracy  for  assassinating  Elizabeth  and  placing 
Mary  on  the  throne,  the  latter  became  liable  to  the  punish- 
ment for  treason.  She  was  subjected  to  a  formal  trial  in 
her  prison  of  Fotheringay  Castle,  and  found  guilty. 

105.  The  warrant  for  her  execution  was  delayed  by  the 
The  death-  rcluctance  —  real  or  pretended  —  of  Elizabeth, 
warrant.  _^f  j^gj-  ^j^g  queen  signed  the  warrant,  and 
sent  her  secretary,  Davidson,  with  it  to  the  chancellor,  that 
it  might  receive  the  great  seal.  Recalling  this  order  next 
day,  she  found  that  she  was  too  late :  the  seal  was  affixed, 
and  the  warrant  was  on  the  way  to  Fotheringay.  There, 
in  one  of  the  castle  halls,  in  the  gray  light  of  a  February 
morning  (1587),  Mary  Stuart,  aged  forty-five,  was  beheaded. 

106.  The  Catholic  powers  of  the  Continent  formed  many 

schemes  for  annoying:  or  dethroning  Elizabeth, 

The  Armada.  ,     ,  .       ,.       \^.  ,  .  ^   ^  . 

and  these  finally  culminated  in  a  great  invasion 
by  Spain.  The  Invincible  Armada,  the  most  formidable 
fleet  ever  seen  up  to  that  time,  was  fitted  out  against  Eng- 
land. This  armament  consisted  of  129  ships,  3000  can- 
non, and  20,000  men,  while  34,000  additional  land  forces 
prepared  to  join  from  the  Netherlands. 

107.  In  July,  1588,  the  Armada  entered  the  English 
Account  of  Channel.  Thirty  vessels  prepared  to  meet  the 
the  action.  Spanish  fleet.  The  command  was  taken  by 
Lord  Howard  of  Effingham.  The  English  fleet  attacked 
the  Armada  in  the  Channel,  and  was  found  to  have  a  con- 
siderable advantage  in  the  lightness  and  manageableness  of 


I 


AGE   OF  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


343 


the  vessels.  After  seven  days,  only  three  of  which  passed 
without  warm  actions,  though  there  was  no  decisive  engage- 
ment, the  Spanish  fleet  was  so  harassed  and  damaged  that 
it  was  forced  to  take  shelter  in  the  roads  of  Calais.  The 
English  during  the  night  sent  in  fire-ships,  which  destroyed 
several  vessels,  and  threw  the  others  into  such  confusion 
that  the  Spaniards  no  longer  thought  of  victory,  but  of  es- 
cape.    At  daybreak  they  were  attacked  by  Howard,  Drake, 


The  Armada. 

and  Lord  Henry  Seymour,  and  though  the  Spaniards  fought 
gallantly,  they  were  completely  at  disadvantage ;  in  sea- 
manship and  gun  practice  they  were  inferior  to  their  adver- 
saries, and  their  great  floating  castles  were  no  match  for 
the  active  little  English  vessels.  Had  not  the  queen's  ill- 
timed  parsimony  kept  her  fleet  insufficiently  supplied  with 
powder,  the  Armada  would  have  been  destroyed.  As  it  was, 
the  Spanish  leader,  the  Duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  attempted 
to  return  home  by  sailing  round  the  north  of  Scotland  ;  but 
dreadful  storms  arose,  scattering  the  fleet  about  in  the  seas 
of  Scotland  and  Ireland ;  and  of  the  triumphant  navy  that 
sailed  from  Lisbon  but  a  third  part  returned  in  a  wretched 
state  to  tell  of  the  calamity. 

I08.   This   success  was   regarded  as  a  triumph,  not   so 
much  of  England  as  of  the  Protestant  cause   Effect  of  the 
throughout  Europe  ;  it  virtually  established  the   victory, 
independence  of  the  Dutch,  raised  the  courage  of  the  Hu- 


344  MODERN  HISTORY. 

guenots  in  France,  ana  completely  destroyed  the  decisive 
influence  that  Spain  had  acquired  in  the  affairs  of  Europe. 

109.  The  years  following  the  defeat  of  the  Armada 
England  as-  wcrc  years  of  splendor  and  triumph.  The 
cendant.  fl^g  Qf  England  became  supreme  on  the  seas ; 
English  commerce  penetrated  to  the  farthest  corners  of  the 
Old  World,  and  English  colonies  rooted  themselves  on  the 
shores  of  the  New ;  while  the  national  intellect,  stimulated 
by  the  excitement  of  sixty  3'ears,  took  shape  in  a  literature 
which  is  an  eternal  possession  to  mankind.* 

110.  At  this  time  the  chief  articles  exported  from  Eng- 
Commerce  and  ^^^id  to  the  Continent  were  wool,  cloth,  lead, 
manufactures,  ^j-^^j  (.jj^_  Formerly  these  had  been  sent  in 
vessels  belonging  to  the  Hanse  Towns ;  but  now  English 
ships  were  substituted  for  this  trade.  Birmingham  and 
Sheffield  were  already  thriving  seats  of  the  hardware  man- 
ufacture, and  Manchester  was  becoming  distinguished  for 
making  cottons,  rugs,  and  friezes.  Stocking-weaving  and 
the  making  of  sail-cloth,  serge,  and  baize,  took  their  rise  in 
this  reign.  The  progress  of  other  arts  was  much  favored 
by  the  bloody  persecutions  in  the  Netherlands,  which  drove 
into  England  great  numbers  of  weavers,  dyers,  cloth-dress- 
ers, etc. 

111.  Amongst  the  wealthier  classes  the  wearing  of 
Increase  of  handsomc  apparel,  and  of  gold  ornaments  and 
luxury.  jewelry,  made  a  great  advance.  Coaches  were 
introduced,  but  for  a  time  were  thought  fit  for  the  use  only 
of  ladies.  Great  improvements  were  made  in  the  building 
of  houses.  Theatrical  amusements  were  begun  and  became 
very  popular,  though  only  in  London.  The  smoking  of  to- 
Dacco  was  introduced  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  who  became 
acquaintea  with  the  plant  in  "Virginia." 

112.  During  torty  vears  of  her  reign  Elizabeth  was 
guided  by  the  advice  of  Lord  BuHeigh,  a  wise  and  cool* 

*  Froude,  History  of  tnglaud 


AGE   OF  QUEEN  ELIZABETH.  345 

--■""  1 ' — — 

tempered  statesman.     He  rose  to  be  Lord  Treasurer,  and 
by  his  policy  greatly  increased  the  revenue  of  Elizabeth's 
the  kingdom.     Sir  Francis  Walsingham,   too,   "Ministers, 
as  Secretary  of  State,  enjoyed  much  of  Elizabeth's  favor. 

113.  It  is  remarkable  that  while  Elizabeth  increased  in 
power  and  resources,  she  became  more  noted 

7.  r        .    .  ,  TT  /•  •,        •        "sr  favorites. 

for  femnime  weaknesses.  Her  favorite  in 
middle  life  was  Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester,  a  profligate 
and  a  trifier.  In  her  latter  days  she  listened  to  the  ad- 
dresses of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  a  young  man  of  greater 
courage  and  better  principle,  but  also  headstrong  and  weak. 
Essex,  who  had  acquired  popularity  by  several  brilliant 
military  enterprises,  began  at  length  to  assume  an  in- 
solent superiority  over  the  queen,  who  was  on  one  occa-. 
sion  so  much  provoked  by  his  rudeness  as  to  give  him  a 
hearty  box  on  the  ear.  Notwithstanding  all  his  presump- 
tion and  caprices,  the  queen  still  dotingly  forgave  him, 
until  he  at  length  attempted  to  raise  an  insurrection 
against  her  in  the  streets  of  London,  when  he  was  seized 
and  condemned  to  die.  He  might  still  have  been  par- 
doned, if  a  ring  given  to  him  by  the  queen  in  some  moment 
of  tenderness,  to  be  sent  to  her  when  any  danger  hung  over 
him,  had  reached  her.  It  never  came,  and  Essex  was  be- 
headed in  the  Tower,  aged  thirty-four. 

114.  Some  two  years  later  the  queen  was  entreated  to 
visit  the  Countess  of  Nottingham,  who  was  story  of 
dying.  This  lady  confessed  that  Essex  had  Elizabeth, 
intrusted  the  ring  to  her  to  be  carried  to  Elizabeth ;  but 
that  she,  influenced  by  her  husband,  a  bitter  enemy  of  the 
earl,  had  not  delivered  it.  Rage  and  grief  seized  the 
queen  ;  and  it  is  said  that  she  shook  the  dying  countess  in 
her  bed. 

115.  Never  happy  since  the  death   of  Essex,  she  sank 
under  this   blow.     Ten   days  and  nights   she  ,     , 

1  1  •  ^         n  1  •  •  ,  Her  death. 

lay  on  cushions  on  the   floor,  taking  neither 


346 


MODERN  HISTORY. 


Her  character. 


food  nor  medicine;  and  then  falling  into  a  heavy  sleep 
she  died,  March  24,  1603.  She  was  in  her  seventieth  year. 
116.  In  Elizabeth's  reign  of  forty-five  years  England 
advanced  politically  and  commercially  from 
the  position  of  a  second-rate  to  that  of  a  first- 
rate  power.  It  follows  that  she  was  a  sovereign  of  very 
remarkable  ability.  Yet  her 
character  was  a  strange  blend- 
ing of  the  base  and  the  noble, 
the  weak  and  the  strong.  She 
bribed  and  bullied  and  de- 
ceived, and  to  the  cruelt}'  of  a 
Tudor  she  added  personal  van- 
ity and  insatiable  fondness  for 
flattery  and  admiration.  Still 
she  had  royal  traits,  and  the 
heart  of  a  king,  and  all  she  did 
was  for  her  country.  Through- 
out her  long  and  agitated  reign  her  constant  object  was  the 
glory  of  her  realm,  the  establishment  of  a  united  and  irre- 
sistible bulwark  against  foreign  oppression  and  domestic 
disunion.  The  proud  pre-eminence  which  England  held 
before  all  Europe  while  Elizabeth  grasped  the  scepter  is 
the  noblest  epitaph  on  the  Virgin  Queen. 


The  Virgin  Queen. 


GREAT  NAMES  OF  THE   16TH  CENTURY.         347 


GREAT    NAMES    OF    THE    SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 
ARTISTS. 

Michel  Angelo  (1475-  1564),  an  Italian  sculptor,  painter,  and  archi- 
tect. He  flourished  under  the  patronage  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici.  His 
works  are  characterized  by  exceeding  massiveness  and  grandeur.  He 
superintended  St.  Peter's,  but  did  not  live  to  complete  the  dome. 

Raphael  {1483-  1520),  an  Italian  painter  of  great  distinction.  Madonnas 
and  sacred  pieces  chiefly  employed  his  brush.     His  great  work  in 


Michel  Angelo. 


Raphael. 


Rome  was  the  decoration  of  the  walls  of  the  Vatican.  After  producing 
immortal  works,  he  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven. 

Titian  (1477-  1576),  a  Venetian  portrait  and  landscape  painter.  His 
chief  works  are  at  Venice  and  Madrid.  By  many  he  is  considered  the 
prince  of  colorists. 

Albert  Durer  (1471  -  1528),  a  German  painter,  engraver,  and  sculptor. 
He  is  entitled  the  Father  of  German  painting,  and  has  certainly  the 
pre-eminence.  His  best  paintings  are  Christian  Martyrs  in  Persia, 
Adoration  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  other  sacred  subjects. 

Holbein  (1498-  1543),  next  to  DUrer  the  most  distinguished  of  German 
artists.  The  greater  part  of  his  life  was  spent  in  England,  under  the 
patronage  of  Henry  VIII.     He  was  celebrated  for  his  portraits. 


WRITERS. 

Spenser,  Edmund  (1553 -1599),  one  of  England's  greatest  poets. 
His  chief  work  is  the  Faerie  Queen,  an  allegorical  poem,  written  in 
stanzas  of  nine  lines  each,  called  the  Spenserian  stanza.  It  is  not  now 
much  read,  for  the  diction  is  archaic,  and  the  poem  lacks  anything  like 
strong  human  interest ;  but  the  Faerie  Queen  exhibits  exquisite  sweet- 
ness of  language,  pure  and  tender  feeling,  and  fine  imagination. 


348  MODERN  HISTORY. 

William  Shakespeare  (1564-  1616),  the  greatest  creative  genius  that 
ever  lived.  He  was  born  at  Stratford-on-Avon,  where  he  lies  buried. 
Removing,  when  a  young  man,  to  London,  he 
became  an  actor,  a  manager  of  a  theater,  and 
a  playwright.  His  fame  rests  on  his  dramas, 
of  which  he  wrote  thirty-seven.  Among  the 
greatest  are  Macbeth,  King  Lear,  Hamlet^ 
Othello,  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  The  Tem- 
pest, The  Merchant  of  Venice,  Romeo  and  Ju- 
liet, and  Julius  CcBsar.  Shakespeare  has  been 
called  the  "  Myriad-minded."  Some  authors 
may  be  said  to  equal  him  in  a  particular  pomt, 
Shakespearb.  Ij^^   ^q   jj^^^    gygj-   possessed   his   wonderful 

power  of  searching  out  and  exhibiting  the  workings  of  the  human  heart, 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip  (1554-  1586),  a  courtier  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  who 
called  him  the  "jewel  of  her  dominions."  Though  he  did  not  write 
for  publication,  being  a  man  of  the  court  and  the  camp,  he  had  a  fine 
poetic  temperament,  and  he  produced  two  works  that  had  a  powerful 
influence  on  the  intellectual  spirit  of  his  age.  These  were  The  Ar' 
cadia,  a  heroic  romance,  now  but  little  read,  and  the  Defense  of  Poesie, 
one  of  the  earliest  pieces  of  English  criticism. 
Raleigh,  Sir  Walter  (1552-  1618),  also  a  courtier,  a  soldier,  and  an 
adventurer,  and  necessarily  a  man  rather  of  deeds  than  of  the  pen,  is 
known  for  one  celebrated  work,  —  his  History  of  the  World.  Although 
of  course  superseded  in  matters  of  fact  by  later  works,  it  is  regarded 
as  a  model  of  stj'le,  and  contains  passages  of  lofty  eloquence.  He  was 
also  a  poet  of  no  mean  ability,  and  a  great  friend  of  Spenser.  Raleigh 
was  a  favorite  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  but  he  incurred  the  displeasure  of 
James  I.,  and  was  beheaded  on  a  groundless  charge  of  treason. 
Cervantes  (1547- 1616),  a  renowned  Spanish  writer.  He  led  an  ad- 
venturous life,  even  falling  into  the  hands  of  pirates,  and  being  sold 
into  slavery.  He  wrote  numerous  plays  and  tales,  but  his  immortal 
work  is  Dott  Quixote,  one  of  the  finest  pieces  of  hurnor  ever  penned. 
Rabelais  (1483  -  1553),  a  famous  French  satirist.  He  was  a  priest, 
and  MTOte  a  book  called  the  Life  of  Gargantua  and  Pantagniel.  It 
vividly  illustrates  the  first  half  of  the  i6th  century,  but  is  immoral. 
Montaigne  (1533- 1592),  the  most  lovable  of  French  skeptics.  He 
was  a  judge  and  mayor  of  Bordeaux  ;  but  after  the  Bartholomew  mas- 
sacre he  retired  from  the  court  to  the  solitude  of  his  own  chateau. 
Here  he  jotted  down  the  observations  on  life  and  manners  which  were 
afterwards  published  as  his  Essays.  His  motto  was  Que  sais-Jet 
(What  do  I  know  ?)  The  Essays  were  early  translated  into  English, 
and  have  been  largely  read  ever  since. 


GREAT  NAMES  OF  THE   id  TIT  CENTURY. 


349 


Ariosto  (1474-  1533),  an  Italian  poet,  whose  great  work  was  Orlando 
Furioso.     The  Emperor  Charles  V.  created  him  laureate. 

Tasso  (1544- 1595),  an  Italian  poet,  who  celebrated  the  First  Crusade 
in  beautiful  language  in  his  Jenisalem  Delivered. 

Camoens  (1524-  1579),  the  only  Portuguese  poet  of  European  reputa- 
tion. His  great  poem  is  the  Lusiad,  which  celebrates  the  chief  actors 
in  and  events  of  Portuguese  history. 

PHILOSOPHERS    AND    SCIENTISTS. 
Copernicus  (i473-i545)>  a  celebrated  German  astronomer.     He  was 

the  first  to  question  the  ancient 
theory  of  the  heavens  (called  the 
Ptolemaic  theory),  which  taught  that 
the  earth  was  the  centre  round  which 
all  the  heavenly  bodies  revolved. 
This  doctrine  had  remained  unques- 
tioned for  fifteen  hundred  years, 
when  Copernicus  demonstrated  its 
falsity.  He  feared,  however,  to 
shock  general  belief  by  publishing 
his  proof,  and  his  great  work,  De 
Orbium  Celesthtm  Revoliitionibits,  was 
finally  published  by  a  cardinal,  and 
dedicated  to  Pope  Paul  III.,  himself 
a  mathematician, — a  politic  step  to  secure  himself  from  attack. 
Galileo  {1564- 1642),  a  celebrated  Italian  astronomer.  He  adopted 
the  Copemican  system,  and  making  use  of  the  then  recent  invention 
of  spectacle-glasses,  he  contrived  a  telescope  with  two  such  glasses  in 
a  leaden  tube.  By  the  aid  of  this  instrument  he  discovered  the  satel- 
lites of  Jupiter,  the  ring  of  Saturn,  and  the  moonlike  phases  of  Venus. 
Twice  he  was  carried  before  the  Court  of  Inquisition  to  ren^u'sce  the 
heresies,  which  he  had  put  forth  m  his  Systetn  of  the  World.  He  pub- 
licly recanted,  but  on  rising  from  the  g;round  is  said  to  have  erdclmed  in 
an  undertone  :  E  pur  si  muove, — "  It  does  move,  for  all  that  I  "  '"' 
Tycho-Brahe  (1546- 1601),  an  astronomer  of  Copenhagen.  Frederick 
II.  of  Denmark  erected  an  observatory  on  the  island  of  Huen,  and 
there  Tycho-Brahe  was  established  for  many  years,  making  astronom» 
ical  observations  that  were  of  great  vame. 

*  1^  should  be  said  that  the  letters  of  Galileo's  daughter  discredit  this  storg. 


350  MODERN  HISTORY. 


CHAPTER    III. 

GREAT  EVENTS  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY- 

( England  under  the  Stuarts. 
TOPICS...  J  The  Thirty  Years'  War. 
i  The  Age  of  Louis  XIV. 

I.  ENGLAND  UNDER  THE  STUARTS. 


117.  Elizabeth  was  the  last  of  the  Tudors.     On  her 

death,  in  1603,  James  VI.  of  Scotland,  son 
of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  succeeded  to  the 
throne,  and  took  the  title  of  James  I.  of  England.*  With 
James  I.  begins  the  Stuart  period  of  English  history,  —  an 
eventful  period,  comprising  six  reigns  and  covering  the 
whole  of  the  17th  century,  f 

118.  The  distinctive  feature  of  this  period  is  the  arduous 
Stuarts  and       and  continuous  struffsfle  on  the  part  of   the 

Tudors  con-  .  ,  ,  .  , 

trasted.  people  against   the    arbitrary  and  unconstitu- 

tional government  of  the  Stuart  sovereigns.  The  Tudors 
had  been  despots,  but  they  ruled  with  vigor  and  tact.  The 
Stuarts,  at  least  James  I.,  the  two  Charleses,  and  James  II., 
had  none  of  the  rugged  sense  of  Henry  VIII.  and  his  great 
daughter  Elizabeth;  —  and,  besides,  times  were  changed,  for 

*  James  VI.  of  Scotland  was  the  nearest  living  lineal  descendant  of 
Henry  VII.  Strictly  speaking,  his  claim  to  the  crown  was  not  perfect ; 
but  Elizabeth  on  her  death-bed  declared  as  her  will  that  her  successor 
should  be  "  her  cousin  of  Scotland." 


t  James    I.    (son   of  Mary 

Queen  of  Scots) 1603 

Charles  I.  (soti) 1625 

[The  Commonwealth  and 

Cromwell] 1649 

Charles  II.  (son  of  Charles 

I.) 1660 


James  II.  (brother) 1685 

William  III.  (nephew), and 

Mary  II.  (daughter) 1689 

Anne  (daughter  of  James 

II.)... 170a 


ENGLAND   UNDER    THE  STUARTS.  35 1 


the  English  people  had  in  the  mean  time  been  advancing 
greatly  in  intelligence,  and  consequently  in  the  love  of  lib- 
erty. Blind  to  this  significant  fact,  James  I.  no  sooner  came 
to  the  throne  than  he  began  to  proclaim  that  the  king,  by 
Divine  right  to  the  crown,  was  above  all  laws.  This  is  the 
famous  Stuart  doctrine  of  the  "  Divine  Right  of  Kings," 
—  on  which  doctrine  James  I.  was  almost  crazed,  and 
which  he  transmitted  to  his  son,  Charles  I. 

119.  In  carrying  out  this  policy  he  was  guilty  of  the  most 
arbitrary  and  illegal  measures,  —  imprisoning  james  and  his 
members  of  Parliament,  and  raising  money  by  Parliament, 
forced  loans,  Star-Chamber  fines,  and  "  benevolences."  But 
Parliament  gained  some  important  advantages.  They  de- 
clared against  monopolies  and  royal  proclamations  not  au- 
thorized by  Parliament ;  they  secured  their  right  of  impeach- 
ment and  of  deciding  disputed  elections  ;  and  finally,  when 
James  told  them  they  had  no  right  to  interfere  in  state  affairs, 
they  recorded  the  memorable  protest  that  the  "  Liberties  of 
Parliament  are  the  undoubted  birthright  of  the  subjects  of 
England  ;  that  all  matters  of  debate  are  fit  subjects  for  dis- 
cussion there  ;  that  every  member  has  a  right  to  freedom  of 
speech ;  and  that  no  member  can  be  la^vfully  imprisoned  or 
molested  for  his  conduct  in  Parliament,  except  by  order  of 
the  House  itself." 

120.  The  reign  of  James  I.  was  not  marked  by  what  are 
usually  called  great  events.  This  was  owing  characteristics 
to  his  timid  character,  which  induced  him  to  °*^  ^'^'^  reign, 
maintain  peace,  at  whatever  sacrifice,  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  his  reign.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  said  that 
under  the  rule  of  this  king  the  nation  took  greatly  to  trade 
and  maritime  enterprise,  and  increased  rapidly  in  wealth 
and  inteliigence. 

121.  James  I.  was  an  oddity  in  human  character.     His 
appearance   was    awkward,   chiefly   from    the   character  of 
weakness  of  his  knees.    He  was  weak,  obstinate,  Ja^^es  !• 


352  MODERN  HISTORY. 

and  conceited.  He  made  a  great  show  of  his  learning, 
which  was  considerable,  and  he  wrote  several  books  ;  but 
he  was  exceedingly  pedantic.  The  French  statesman,  Sully, 
called  him  "  the  wisest  fool  in  Europe,"  and  the  phrase  ex- 
actly paints  his  character. 

122.  The  respect  of  the  English  people  for  royalty  was 
Temper  of  "^^^  increased  by  the  policy  or  character  of 
Charles  I.  Jamcs  I.,  and  the  folly  of  that  king  descended 
to  his  son,  Charles  I.,  who  came  to  the  throne  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five  (1625).  He  had  a  higher  notion  than  even  his 
father  of  the  "  Divine  Right  of  Kings  to  govern  wrong." 

123.  At  the  time  of  the  accession  of  Charles  I.  a  foolish 
His  dealings     war  With  Spain  was  going  on.     The   Parlia- 

with  Parha-  ^  fc>        t> 

ment.  ment  having  refused  to  grant  the  funds  neces- 

sary for  continuing  it,  the  king  raised  money  by  illegal 
means.  A  general  discontent  spread  over  the  nation.  The 
Commons,  seeing  that,  if  the  king  could  support  the  state 
by  self -raised  taxes,  he  would  soon  become  independent  of 
all  control  from  his  parliaments,  resolved  to  take  every 
measure  in  their  power  to  check  his  proceedings.  They 
also  assailed  him  i'^;specting  a  right,  which  he  assumed,  of 
imprisoning  his  subjects  upon  his  own  warrant  and  detain- 
ing them  as  long  as  he  pleased.  Having  made  an  inquiry 
into  the  ancient  powers  of  the  crown,  before  these  powers 
had  been  vitiated  by  the  tyrannical  Tudors,  they  embodied 
the  result  in  what  was  called  a  Petition  of  Right.  With  great 
difficulty  Charles  was  prevailed  on  to  give  his  sanction  to 
this  bill  (1628)  ;  but  soon  afterAvards  his  dispute  with  Par- 
liament ran  to  such  a  height  that  he  dissolved  it  in  a  fit  of 
indignation,  resolving  nevermore  to  call  it  together. 

124.  For  some  years  Charles  governed  the  country  en- 
Progress  of  tirely  as  an  irresponsible  despot,  levying  taxes 
despotism.  |^y  }^jg  q^j^  orders,  and  imprisoning  such  per- 
sons as  were  obnoxious  to  him,  in  utter  defiance  of  the 
Petition   of  Right.     How  long  the  English  people  would 


ENGLAND    UNDER    THE  STUARTS.  353 

have  borne  the  tyranny  it  is  impossible  to  say:  events 
soon  occurred  that  precipitated  a  struggle.  The  Scots, 
whom  Charles  had  roused  to  revolt  by  trying  to  force  on 
them  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  crossed  the 
border  in  arms,  and  then  it  became  necessary  to  summon 
Parliament. 

125.  In  1640  the  memorable  assembly  known  in  his- 
torv  as  the  Lonz  Parliament  *  came  together.    Action  of  the 

-'  °  °  ,     Long  Parlia- 

They  resolved  to  curb  the  royal  power  and  ment. 
remove  the  grievances  under  which  the  nation  had  groaned 
for  the  past  eleven  years.  The  king  himself  at  last  saw 
that  the  torrent  was  irresistible,  and  resolved,  though  too 
late,  to  give  way  to  it.  By  the  Trien7iial  Bill  it  was 
enacted  that  there  should  be  a  Parliament  at  least  every 
three  years.  Strafford  and  Laud,  who  were  blamed  as  the 
authors  of  the  king's  obstructive  policy,  were  brought  to 
the  block.  The  court  of  "  Star-Chamber  "  was  abolished. 
Finally  a  bill  was  passed  declaring  that  Parliament  should 
not  be  dissolved  without  their  own  consent. 

126.  By  the  month  of  November,  1641,  all  the  abuses 
of  which  complaint  had  been  made  were  re-  The  situation 
moved  ;   and    as  the  king  by  his  concessions   '"  '^^'^^■ 

had  gained  many  friends,  it  seemed  that  all  the  troubles 
were  now  at  an  end.  But  it  is  the  nature  of  a  revolutionary 
movement  that  it  gains  as  it  goes  on.  The  leaders  of  the 
Opposition,  still  distrustful  of  the  king's  sincerity,  resolved 
that  they  would  have  a  guaranty  for  the  future.  They  ac- 
cordingly passed  in  Parliament  a  measure  called  the  Remon- 
strance, setting  forth  all  the  faults  of  the  king's  government, 
and  expressing  the  distrust  with  which  his  policy  was  still 
regarded. 

127.  That  the  Radicals  were  right  in  their  judgment  of 
the  temper  of  the  king  was  soon  made  mani-  xhe  explosion 
test   by    a   despotic    act   committed   by  him.    comes. 

*  So  called  because  it  sat  for  more  than  thirteen  years. 

w 


354  MODERN  HISTORY. 

Early  in  1642  Charles,  in  order  to  overawe  the  refractory 
Commons,  demanded  the  surrender  of  five  of  the  most  trou- 
blesome members  on  a  charge  of  treason.  They  were  not 
given  up,  and  on  the  following  day  the  king  went  to  the 
House,  accompanied  by  a  considerable  number  of  armed 
men,  to  seize  them.  They  were,  however,  designedly  ab- 
sent. This  violation  of  the  Constitution  alarmed  the  Com- 
^mons.  There  was  great  indignation  against  the  king,  for 
'he  had  insulted  the  nation.  He  left  the  capital  and  went 
to  York. 

128.  For  some  months  messages  passed  between  the 
Steps  towards  king  and  the  Parliament ;  but  there  was  no 
civil  war.  dcsire  to  yield  on  either  side.  At  last  the  Par- 
liament demanded  that  he  should  give  up  the  command  of  the 
army.     He  refused,  and  Civil  War  became  inevitable. 

129.  On  the  side  of  the  king  were  the  nobles,  the  clergy, 
Cavaliers  and  and  a  majority  of  the  country  gentlemen.  We 
Roundheads,  j^^y  ^all  these  the  Royalists  ;  but  in  that  time 
they  received  the  name  of  Cavaliers.  On  the  side  of  Parlia- 
ment were  the  tradesmen  and  shopkeepers  of  the  towns,  the 
yeomanry,  a  considerable  number  of  the  country  gentlemen, 
and  a  few  of  the  nobility.  The  Opposition,  or  Parliamenta- 
rians, were  called  in  derision  Roundheads,  from  the  Puritan 
fashion  of  wearing  closely  cropped  hair.* 

130.  On  the  25th  of  August,  1642,  the  royal  standard 
General  sketch  was  unfurlcd  at  Nottingham.    In  the  followins 

of  the  Civil  1       1  .         1 

War.  month  the  opening  battle  was  fought  at  Edge- 

hill  ;  and,  though  indecisive,  it  enabled  the  king  to  approach 
London  and  produce  considerable  alarm.  He  then  retired 
to  Oxford,  and  negotiations  were  entered  into  which  proved 
unavailing.  From  Edgehill  (1642)  to  Colchester  (1648)  we 
may  count  six  years  of  strife,  and  the  names  of  the  princi- 

*  Perhaps  we  may  regard  the  Whigs  and  Tories  who  sprang  up  in 
England  in  the  following  century,  as  well  as  the  Liberals  and  Conserva- 
tives of  modern  England,  as  in  some  respects  the  representatives  of  thf 
principles  of  the  Roundheads  and  Cavaliirs  respectively. 


ENGLAND    UNDER    THE  STUARTS. 


355 


pal  actions  will  be  found  in  the  note  below.*  During  the 
first  two  campaigns  the  Royalists  were  generally  success- 
ful ;  but  after  that,  and  especially  onward  from  Marston 
Moor,  the  Roundheads  were  victorious. 

131.  The  first  leader  on  the  side  of  the  Roundheads  wa« 
the  Earl  of  Essex  :  but  a  greater  than  he  was   First  appear- 

,        T-.  ,       ,  .,,  .  -    ance  of  Cromo 

soon  to  appear.  At  Edgehill  a  captam  of  well, 
horse  named  Oliver  Cromwell  had  fought  in  the  army  of  the 
Parliament.  He  was  then  about  forty  years  of  age  (born 
1599),  and  had  up  to  that  time  lived  a  peaceful  country 
life  in  Huntingdon.  As  a  member  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment he  was  known  chiefly  as  a  man  of  homely  manners, 
slovenly  dress,  and  rough-and-ready  speech. 

132.  Cromwell  had  been  captain  of  a  troop  of  horse  at 
Edgehill  :  after  that  he  became  a  colonel  of  cav-   His  advance- 

,  ment  and  coil' 

airy.    He  put  his  regiment  under  the  severest  duct, 
discipline,  and  soon  Cromwell's  "  Ironsides  "  became  famous, 

*  The   following  tabic  exhibits    the   leading    battles    of  the   Civil 

War :  — 

P.  means  Parliamentarian  ;  R-  means  Royalist. 


RESULT. 


Edgehill 

Reading  (siege) . . . . 
Chalgrove  Field  . . . 
Athertoon  Moor . . . 

Lansdowne 

Roundway  Down  . . 

Bristol  (siege) 

1st  Newbury 

Nantwich 

Cropredy  Bridge  . . 
Marston  Moor  . . . . 

2d  Newbury 

Naseby 

Bridgewater  (siege). 

Bristol  (siege) 

Pembroke 


j     Colchester , 


1642 
1643 
1643 
1643 
1643 
1643 
1643 
1643 
1644 
1644 
1644 
1644 
164s 
1645 
1645 
1648 
1648 


Indecisive. 
P.  victory. 
R.       " 
R.      " 
R.      « 
R.       " 
R.      " 
P.      " 
P.       « 
R.      " 
P.      " 
Indecisive. 
P.  victory. 
P.       " 
P.      " 
P.      " 


;  5  6  MODERN  HIS  I'D  R  Y. 


Alter  two  or  three  years  the  army  was  remodeled  ;  and  then, 
though  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  was  appointed  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  Parhamentary  forces,  yet  the  real  captain  was 
Cromwell,  who  received  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-General. 
Then  was  organized  that  army,  —  the  most  wonderful  ever 
seen,  and  the  very  embodiment  of  Cromwell's  own  fervent 
Puritan  soul, — composed  of  stern,  religious  men,  who  prayed 
when  they  did  not  fight,  and  who,  marching  to  battle  with 
the  singing  of  psalms,  scattered  like  chaff  the  licentious  and 
roistering  Royalists.  Naseby  (1645)  "^^^s  the  decisive  bat- 
tle of  the  war ;  for  there  the  king  was  so  completely  beaten 
that  he  and  his  party  could  no  longer  keep  the  field. 

133.  Meantime  the  Puritans  had  become  divided  into 
The  two  Puri-  two  parties  :  the  one,  called  Presbyterian,  and 
tan  factions,  consisting  of  the  majority  of  Parliament,  was 
desirous  only  of  limiting  the  power  of  the  king ;  the  other, 
called  Itidependerit,  and  enibracing  the  leaders  of  the  army, 
was  bent  upon  the  destruction  of  the  throne.  Cromwell 
became  the  leader  of  the  Independents. 

134.  After  the  disaster  of  Naseby  the  king  fled  to  the 
The  king  and  Scots,  who,  however,  gave  him  up  to  Parlia- 
Cromweii.  ment ;  but  Cromwell  caused  Charles  to  be 
seized  and  confined  as  a  prisoner  at  Hampton  Court.  Much 
negotiation  now  went  on  between  the  king  and  the  two  par- 
ties, and  indeed  at  one  time  a  satisfactory  arrangement  was 
made  between  Charles  and  the  Parliament  for  the  settle- 
ment of  all  difficulties.  This  alarmed  the  leaders  of  the 
army ;  and  under  the  direction  of  Cromwell  measures  were 
taken  to  clear  the  House  of  Commons  of  all  members  op- 
posed to  their  plans.  For  this  purpose  Colonel  Pride,  with 
an  armed  force,  barred  the  door  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  thus  prevented  the  entrance  of  more  than  a  hundred 
members  opposed  to  the  army  party  (December,  1648). 
This  high-handed  act  was  called  Prides  Purf^e.  The  re- 
maining fifty  or  sixty  members,  all  of  whom  were  Indepeir 
dents,  received  the  nickname  of  the  "  Rump." 


ENGLAND  UNDER    THE  STUARTS,  357 

135.  This  remnant  proceeded  to  nominate  a  High  Court 
of  Justice  for  the  trial  of  King  Charles.     The   Trial  of  the 
court  sat  in  Westminster   Hall,  and  Charles   ''^"s- 

was  brought  to  the  bar  January  20,  1649.  The  king  en- 
tered a  dignified  protest  against  the  right  of  the  court  tc 
try  him.  This,  however,  availed  him  nothing ;  lengthy  evi« 
dence  was  given,  and  on  the  27th  he  was  condemned  to 
execution  as  a  "  tyrant,  traitor,  murderer,  and  public  enemy." 

136.  The  sentence  was  carried  out  January  30,  in  front 
of  the  banqueting-hall  of  Whitehall  Palace.  His  execu- 
Soldiers  surrounded  the  black  scaffold,  on  *'°"- 
which  stood  two  masked  headsmen  beside  the  block.  Even 
at  the  last  moment,  with  "  the  ruling  passion  strong  in 
death,"  the  king  declared  that  the  people  had  no  right  to  any 
part  in  the  government.  He  then  calmly  placed  his  head  on 
the  block  and  gave  the  signal.  One  blow,  and  all  was  over ; 
and  the  executioner,  raising  the  dripping  head  of  Charles 
Stuart,  cried  out,  "  This  is  the  head  of  a  traitor !  " 

137.  The  execution  of  Charles,  the  first  and  only  king 
of  England  that  has  died  on  the  scaffold,  was  verdict  on  hi« 
utterly  unconstitutional.  The  one  right  and  execution, 
open  course  would  have  been  to  depose  him,  for  he  had 
violated  his  Coronation  Oath.  But  this  was  not  a  time  for 
calm  measures,  when  the  nation  was  in  the  throes  of  a  revo- 
lution, and  the  king  fell  a  victim  to  the  spirit  of  the  age, 
which  he  obstinately  refused  to  understand. 

138.  The  Parliament  now  governed  England,  and  estab- 
lished a  republic  under  the  title  of  The  Com-  xhe  common. 
MONWEALTH.  It  lasted  for  eleven  years,  which  wealth, 
years  maybe  divided  into  two  periods:  i.  From  Charles's 
death  to  the  appointment  of  Cromwell  as  Lord  Protector  j 
2.  The  Protectorate  of  Cromwell. 

139.  During  the  first  period  the  executive  power  was  in- 
trusted to  forty-one  members,  but  even  under  Events  of  tho 
this  arrangement  Cromwell  was  the  actual  head.   **"*  penod. 


358  MODERN  HISTORY.  ^ 

He  acted  with  astonishing  vigor.  He  led  an  army  into  Ire- 
land, and  rapidly  overran  and  conquered  the  whole  country. 
The  people  of  Scotland  having  proclaimed  Charles  H. 
king,  Cromwell  invaded  and  reduced  that  kingdom  also. 
Charles  entered  England  with  a  Scottish  army;  but  the 
battle  of  Worcester  (1651)  put  an  end  to  his  hopes.  The 
Dutch  becoming  insolent,  he  chastised  them,  and  forced 
their  ships  to  strike  their  flag  to  the  English. 

140.  At  home  Cromwell  found  himself  surrounded  by 
Cromwell  dis-   many  difficulties.     And  the  most  troublesome 

Bolves  Parha-  ,  11.1  i     ,. 

ment.  of  these  were  caused  by  jealous  and  discon- 

tented Puritans  in  Parliament.  So  one  day  in  April,  1653, 
he  went  to  the  Parliament  House,  and  said,  "  Get  you 
gone,  and  give  way  to  honester  men."  He  stamped  on 
the  floor  ;  musketeers  stationed  without  poured  in,  the  hall 
was  speedily  cleared,  and  Oliver,  locking  the  door,  carried 
off  the  key.  In  this  forcible  way  was  the  Rump  Parliament 
dissolved. 

141.  Under  the  direction  of  Cromwell  a  new  Parliament, 
He  becomes  known  as  "  Barcbonc's  Parliament,"  *  was 
Protector.  called.  But  after  sitting  a  short  time  they  re- 
signed their  power  into  the  hands  of  Cromwell,  bestowing 
upon  him  the  title  of  Lord  Protector  of  the  Commonwealth. 
He  was  king  in  all  but  name,  and  indeed  had  more  power 
than  any  king  since  Henry  VHI. 

142.  In  the  government  of  England  Cromwell  ruled  as  a 

despot.     To   insure  the    maintenance   of   his 

His  home  rule.  ,        .         ,  ,     ,  ,  t    -j    j    •    ^ 

authority  the  whole  country  was  divided  into 
eleven  districts,  and  each  placed  under  the  command  of  a 
major-general  with  almost  unlimited  power.  Resistance 
was  hopeless ;  men  were  fined  and  imprisoned  contrary  to 
law,  and  some  were  sent  as  slaves  to  Barbadoes. 

143.  The  Protector's  foreign  policy  was  as  vigorous  as 

«  So  called  from  a  London  currier  named  Barebone,  who  was  a  lead' 
feg  member  of  it. 


If 


ENGLAND   UNDER    THE  STUARTS 


359 


his  home  government.     He  made  England   honored  and 
feared.     He  vanquished  the  Spaniards  by  land   His  foreign 
and  sea,   and  took  from  tliem  the  island  of  P°i'cy- 
Jamaica.     He  dictated  peace  to  Holland.     He  united  the 
Protestant  states  of  Europe,  and  forced  the  Pope  himself 
to  moderate  the  religious  zeal  of  Catholic  princes. 

144.  Cromwell's  latter  days  were  clouded  with  many 
cares  and  fears.  Royalists,  Presbyterians,  and  Last  days  and 
disappointed  republicans  plotted  against  him,   <*eath. 

and  he  was  in  constant  dread  of  assassination.  Anxiety 
and  fear  at  last  wore  out  his  strength,  and  an  ague  carried 
him  off  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age  (September  3,  1658), 
on  the  anniversary  of  his  decisive  victories  of  Dunbar  and 
Worcester. 

145.  In  his  person  Oliver  Cromwell  was  of  a  coarse  and 
heavy  figure,  about  the  middle  size.     His  eyes   character  of 
were  gray  and  keen,  his  long  nose  was  of  a  Cromweii. 

deep  red.  It  is  a  characteristic  trait 
that  when  a  painter,  wishing  to  flatter 
him,  represented  the  Protector  with- 
out a  wart  which  deformed  his  face, 
he  angrily  told  the  artist,  "  Paint  me 
as  I  am!"  Yet  within  this  rugged 
frame  there  burned  a  great  and  heroic 
soul.  He  had  military  talent  of  the 
highest  order ;  but  he  was  more  than 
a  mere  soldier :  he  was  an  iron  char- 
acter, a  man  of  terrible,  fiery  earnestness,  fitted  by  Divine 
Providence  for  the  awful  yet  necessary  part  he  had  to  play 
in  the  history  of  England. 

146.  Richard  Cromwell,  son  of  Oliver,  succeeded  by  his 
father's  appointment  to  the  protectorate ;  but   Events  to  the 
he  was  wholly  unfit  for  the  position,  being  a   Restoration, 
gentle,  modest  soul.     Realizing  his  own  deficiencies,  he  re- 
*«%ned  the  office  in  five  months.     Then  followed  an  inter- 


Cromwell. 


360  MODERN  HISTORY. 

val  of  great  confusion,  in  the  midst  of  which  it  was  clearly 
seen  that  the  English  people  were  leaning  towards  their 
exiled  sovereign,  Charles  II.  He  was  accordingly  invited 
back  to  his  native  land,  and  returning,  he  was  proclaimed 
king  in  May,  1660. 

147.  The  Restoration,  as  it  is  called,  was  hailed  with 
Circumstances  transports  of  joy,  —  the  joy  of  a  people  who 
ration.  loved  order  and  hated  anarchy.  Yet  a  people 
may  purchase  order  at  too  dear  a  price,  and  this  fact  soon 
received  a  striking  illustration  in  England.  The  nation, 
without  imposing  any  terms  on  the  new  sovereign,  trust- 
ed implicitly  to  his  good  disposition.  Charles  II.  soon 
showed  his  true  character :  though  humane  and  amiable, 
he  was  indolent,  prodigal,  and  licentious,  unfitted  either  to 
support  the  national  honor  abroad,  or  to  command  respect 
at  home. 

148.  During  the  greater  part  of  his  reign  Charles  II. 
The  reign  of  made  few  inroads  on  the  Constitution  and 
Charles  II.  laws.  It  is  true  that  he  issued  Declarations 
of  Indulgence,  removed  incorruptible  judges,  sanctioned 
excessive  fines  and  punishments,  and  published  proclama- 
tions on  his  own  authority.  But  these  measures  were  so 
feeble  and  few  compared  with  those  of  his  father,  and  they 
were  counterbalanced  by  so  many  excellent  laws  conducive 
to  freedom,  that  they  excited  little  opposition ;  and  the  dis- 
like with  which  the  king  soon  came  to  be  regarded  sprang, 
not  from  these  illegal  measures,  but  from  his  disgracefully 
licentious  manner  of  life,  and  the  mean  acts  to  which  he 
resorted  to  procure  money. 

149.  Towards  the  close  of  his  reign  he  governed  with- 
His  later  o^t  a  Parliament,  under  the  influence  of  his 
character.  brother,*  and  was  guilty  of  acts  as  t}Tannical 
and  monstrous  as  any  committed  by  his  father.  His  con- 
duct during  these  last  years  shows  him  to  have  been   as 

*  The  Duke  of  York,  afterwards  James  II. 


ENGLAND   UNDER    THE  STUARTS.  36 1 


despotically  inclined  as  any  of  the  Stuarts  ;  and  there  seems 
little  doubt  that  only  his  being  steeped  in  vicious  and  idle 
pleasures  during  the  greater  part  of  his  reign  prevented  his 
being  the  most  arbitrary  monarch  of  his  line. 

150.  Under  the  austere  Puritan  rule  of  Cromwell  sculp 
ture  and  painting  had  been  almost  banished   Puntan  aus- 
from  the  land,  as  savoring  of  idolatry.     Then,   Verity. 

too,  all  public  amusements,  especially  theatrical  perform- 
ances, were  forbidden,  and  even  the  innocent  sports  around 
the  May-pole  and  by  the  Christmas-fire  were  sternly  put 
down. 

151.  The  nation,  released  at  the  Restoration  from  such 
restriction,  plunged  wildly  into  the  opposite  Manners  under 
extreme.  The  king's  libertine  example  was  ^^^^''^^  "• 
imitated,  and  morals  became  very  corrupt.  Members  of 
Parliament  sold  their  votes,  as  a  matter  of  course.  The 
plays  written  then,  in  which  for  the  first  time  female  per- 
formers took  the  female  parts,  are  unfit  to  be  read,  so  dis- 
gusting are  the  thoughts  and  the  language.  The  power  o\ 
even  the  Church  was  but  feebly  exerted  to  stem  this  torrent 
of  wickedness. 

152.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  noticed  that  the  Eng- 
lish during  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  advanced  Progress  of 
considerably  in  material  prosperity.  Naviga-  England, 
tion  and  commerce  were  encouraged.  Manufactures  of 
brass,  glass,  silk,  hats,  and  paper  were  established.  The 
post-office,  set  up  during  the  Commonwealth  as  a  means 
of  raising  money,  was  advanced  in  this  reign.  Roads  were 
greatly  improved,  and  stage-coach  traveling  was  commenced, 
though  not  carried  to  any  great  extent.  During  this  reign 
tea,  coffee,  and  chocolate  were  first  introduced.  In  1660 
the  Royal  Society  was  established  in  London,  for  the  cul- 
tivation of  natural  science,  mathematics,  and  all  useful 
knowledge. 

153.  In    1685  Charles  II.  died,  and  was  succeeded  by 

16 


362  MODERN  HISTORY. 

his  brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  who  received  the  title  of 
Sketch  of  Tames   II.     His   reign   was    brief   and   insrlo- 

JamesII.'s  -'.  *'  -  .,     " 

reign.  rious.     James  II.  was  a  man  of  one  idea, — 

that  of  making  Catholicism  the  national  faith.  The  Ro- 
man Catholics  at  this  time  were  not  the  hundredth  part  of 
the  nation,  yet  the  king  believed  he  could  bring  back  the 
old  religion,  and  to  this  end  alone  he  directed  the  exercise 
of  that  prerogative  to  which  he  clung  with  Stuart-like 
tenacit}'.  The  efforts  of  James  were  for  some  time  attend- 
ed with  success  ;  but  at  last  they  disgusted  both  Whigs  and 
Tories,  and  both  parties  united  in  inviting  over  William, 
Prince  of  Orange,  to  deliver  the  nation.  William  was 
the  grandson  of  Charles  I.,  and  nephew  and  son-in-law 
of  James  II.,  being  married  to  that  king's  daughter  Mary, 
known  in  history  as  Mary  II. 

154.  He  accepted  the  invitation  ;  and  collecting  a  large 
William  of       fleet  and  force,  landed  on  the  coast  of  Ene- 

Orange  and  _  .  ^ 

James.  land,  1 688.     James  did  not  perceive  the  storm 

that  was  gathering  around  his  head,  until  William  had 
landed.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  king  now  turned  himself 
to  the  army  and  the  people,  and  promised  the  removal  of 
every  measure  repugnant  to  the  Constitution.  When  a 
part  of  the  army  went  over  to  William,  and  the  general 
voice  declared  itself  against  the  king,  James  sent  his  wife 
and  son  to  France,  threw  the  Great  Seal  into  the  Thames, 
and  then  fled  himself  in  despair  from  the  land  of  his 
fathers.  He  lived  from  this  time  forth  at  St.  Germain,  a 
pensioner  of  Louis  XIV. 

155.  After  the  flight  of  James  the  representatives  of 
Throne  de-  the  English  people  declared  the  throne  vacant, 
Glared  vacant.  ^^^  agreed  that  the  Catholic  line  of  the  House 
of  Stuart  should  be  excluded  from  the  government,  and 
that  this  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  royal  pair, 
William  III.  and  Mary  II.  Instructed,  however,  by  the 
past,  they  secured  the  liberties  of  the  nation  against  anjf 
future  arbitrary  acts  by  the  Bill  of  Rights. 


ENGLAND    UNDER   THE  STUARTS.  363 

156.  Such  was  what  the  English  people  call  the  "  Glori- 
ous Revolution  of  1688."  And  indeed  it  is  Benefits  of  the 
not  unworthy  of  the  name ;  for  it  presents  a  Revolution, 
striking  example  of  the  salutary  power  of  public  opinion 
directed  by  wisdom  and  aiming  at  just  and  worthy  ends. 
By  the  Bill  of  Rights  the  British  Constitution  now  became, 
in  many  important  points,  fixed  and  determined.  This  act 
secured  by  guaranties  all  the  old  English  liberties  which 
the  Stuarts  had  violated.  It  was  a  triumph  of  the  People 
over  Kings.  It  destroyed  at  one  blow  and  forever  the  false 
and  pernicious  doctrine  that  the  royal  prerogative  is  some- 
thing more  sublime  and  holy  than  the  fundamental  laws  of 
the  realm.  It  laid  the  sure  basis  of  the  stability  and  the 
prosperity  of  England.* 

157.  The  Revolution  was  accomplished  ;  but  James  did 
not  yield  without  a  struggle.  Of  this,  Ireland  Hostile  efforts 
was  the  chief  scene.     Besieging  Londonderry  °^  James. 

in  vain,  he  was  signally  defeated  at  the  Boyne  in  1690  ;  and, 
utterly  dispirited,  he  hastened  to  return  to  France. 

158.  The  death  of  Mary  in  1694  left  her  husband  to 
rule  alone.  This  he  did  by  prudently  conceding  a  good 
deal   to   the    Parliament,   provided   that   thev  Career  and 

,  .  ,  .  ,      death   of  Wil- 

gave  him  money  to  carry  on  the  war  with  Ham. 
Louis  XIV.  (Of  this  we  shall  have  an  account  under  the 
Age  of  Louis  XIV.)  The  treaty  of  Ryswick  brought  the 
struggle  to  an  end  in  1697.  A  second  war  was  in  prepara- 
tion when  William  died  (March  8,  1702),  in  consequence 
ot  a  fall  from  his  horse. 


*  Some  of  the  most  important  articles  in  the  Bill  of  Rights  are  the 
following:  I.  The  king  cannot  suspend  the  laws  or  their  execution. 
2.  He  cannot  levy  money  without  the  consent  of  Parliament.  3.  The 
subjects  have  a  right  to  petition  the  crown.  4,  A  standing  army  cannot 
be  kept  up  in  time  of  peace  but  with  the  consent  of  Parliament.  5.  Elec- 
tions and  parliamentary  debates  must  be  free,  and  parliaments  must  be 
frequently  assembled. 


364  MODERiY  HISTORY. 

159.  William  was  a  prince  of  commanding  ability,  par- 

ticularly  in  military  affairs.  His  ruling  senti- 
ment was  a  wish  to  reduce  the  power  of  the 
King  of  France,  and  this  he  was  able  in  no  small  degree  to 
effect.  His  person  was  thin  and  feeble,  and  his  ordinary 
demeanor  was  cold,  silent,  and  unattractive.  It  was  only  in 
battle  that  he  ever  became  animated  or  easy.  He  was  a 
conscientious  man,  of  sober  and  even  kindly  domestic  hab- 
its, and  sincerely  attached  to  toleration  in  religion. 

3.     THE  THIRTY   YEARS'   WAR. 

160.  The  greatest  event  in  the  politics  of  Continental 
Character  of  Europe  during  the  first  half  of  the  17th  century 
the  war.  ^^^  ^j^g  famous  Thirty  Years'  War.,  which  be- 
gan about  16 18,  and  was  terminated  by  the  Treaty  of  West- 
phalia in  1648.  This  war  had  Germany  for  its  center,  and 
it  was,  properly  speaking,  a  contest  between  the  Catholic 
and  Protestant  princes  of  that  country;  but  eventually 
most  of  the  nations  of  Europe  were  drawn  into  it. 

161.  In  order  to  understand  the  nature  of  this  struggle, 
Events  from      we  must  glancc  back  to  the  affairs  of  Germany 

Charles  V.'s 

time.  '  at  the  period  of  the  abdication  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.,  the  point  at  which  our  last  survey  of  the  Empire 
closed.  Germany  was  at  that  time  distracted  by  the  politi- 
cal factions  and  quarrels  of  its  independent  princes,  and  by 
the  contending  sects  of  the  Catholics,  Lutherans,  and  Cal- 
vinists.  Ferdinand  I.,  the  brother  and  successor  of  Charles 
v.,  attempted  to  reconcile  these  factions  and  unite  the  three 
religions,  but  in  vain.  This  state  of  affairs  was  not  at  all 
changed  under  the  succeeding  three  emperors  down  to  Mat- 
thias, who  was  emperor  in  the  early  part  of  the  17th  century. 

162.  When  Matthias,  who  had  been  King  of  Bohemia 
Beginnings  of  "^"^^  Hungar}',  was  elected  emperor,  he  had 
the  revolt.         ]^g  cousin  Ferdinand  mad€  King  of  Bohemia. 


THE   THIRTY  YEARS'    WAR.  365 

Ferdinand  was  intolerant  towards  the  Protestants  of  Bo- 
hemia, and  they  rose  in  revolt.  While  the  war  was  yet  in 
progress  Matthias  died,  and  Ferdinand  II.,  to  the  great 
alarm  of  the  Protestant  party,  was  raised  to  the  imperial 
throne,  16 19.  But  just  about  the  time  that  Ferdinand  II. 
was  crowned  emperor  the  Bohemians  renounced  their  alle- 
giance, and  chose  as  their  king  the  Elector  Palatine,  Freder- 
ick, a  Protestant  prince. 

163.  Frederick  was  the  son-in-law  of  the  English  king, 
James  I.,  and  the  Protestants  of  Bohemia  in  Defeat  of 
choosing  Frederick  trusted  that  he  would  be  Frederick, 
upheld  by  British  influence  and  power.  But  this  hope  was 
frustrated  by  the  weakness  and  timidity  of  James.  The  re- 
sult was  that  in  the  next  year  (1620)  Frederick  was  driven 
out  of  Bohemia  by  the  imperial  army,  and  he  presently  lost 
his  own  dominions  as  well. 

164.  The  Emperor,  blinded  by  his  success,  now  deter- 
mined to  crush  Protestantism  in  Germany.  Narrative  of 
Wallenstein,  a  great  general,  but  a  most  un-  *^^  ^^'■• 
scrupulous  plunderer,  was  at  the  head  of  the  army,  and 
ravaged  the  territory  of  the  Protestant  princes.  It  seemed 
indeed  that  the  Emperor  would  swallow  up  all  Germany. 
But  at  this  crisis  other  powers  began  to  step  in.  The  first 
was  Christian  IV.,  King  of  Denmark,  who  became  the  chief 
of  the  Protestant  League  (1625).  He  was  able  to  accom- 
plish nothing,  however,  and  was  presently  forced  to  return 
to  his  own  dominions.  Then  it  was  that  a  heroic  figure 
from  the  North  came  upon  the  scene.  This  was  the  famous 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden. 

165.  Gustavus  was  a  prince  of  the  highest  military  and 
civil  talents,  and  in  every  respect  a  noble  char-   Gustavus 

1  T->  111     Adolphus  ap- 

acter.     He  was  a  zealous  Protestant,  and  had   pears. 
the  full  confidence  of  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany, 
who  were  ready  to   rally   the   moment   he    obtained   any 
signal    advantage.      On   the    20th    of    May,    1630,    taking 


366  MODERN  HISTORY. 

in  his  arms  his  daughter  Christina,  then  only  four  years 
of  age,  he  presented  her  to  the  Swedish  Parliament  as 
their  future  sovereign,  and  made  his  farewell  address. 
"  Not  lightly,  not  wantonly,"  said  he,  "  am  I  about  to  in- 
volve myself  and  you  in  this  new  and  dangerous  war.  God 
is  my  witness  that  I  do  not  fight  to  gratify  my  own  ambi- 
tion ;  but  the  Emperor  has  wronged  me,  —  has  supported  my 
enemies,  persecuted  my  friends,  trampled  my  religion  in  the 
dust,  and  even  stretched  forth  his  revengeful  arm  against 
my  crown.  The  oppressed  states  of  Germany  call  loudly 
for  aid,  which,  by  God's  help,  we  will  give  them." 

166.  Landing  in  Germany  at  the  head  of  a  small  but 
His  career  of  highly  disciplined  army  composed  of  moral, 
victory.  God-fearing  men,  Gustavus  began  his  career  of 
victory.  At  the  same  time  aid  came  from  other  quarters. 
The  great  Cardinal  Richelieu,  then  the  real  chief  of  France, 
made  a  treaty  with  Gustavus  and  helped  him  with  money, 
—  not  that  he  loved  Protestantism  (for  he  was  then  bending 
all  his  energies  to  crush  the  Huguenots  at  home),  but  be- 
cause he  hated  the  House  of  Austria.  England,  too,  though 
she  never  formally  joined  in  the  cause,  lent  it  her  moral 
support,  and  thousands  of  Englishmen  and  Scotchmen  went 
over  to  enlist  under  the  banner  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the 
"  Lion  of  the  North." 

167.  The  career  of  Gustavus  in  Germany  continued  for 
His  victories  ^wo  ycars,  down  to  the  time  of  his  death 
and  death.  (1630-1632).  He  defeated  the  imperial  gen- 
erals Tilly  and  Wallenstein,  and  rapidly  regained  all  that 
the  Protestants  had  lost.  His  last  and  greatest  battle  was 
at  Llitzen  in  Saxony  (November  i6,  1632),  one  of  the  mem- 
orable fields  of  history.  Victory  declared  for  the  troops 
of  Gustavus,  but  the  heroic  leader  himself  was  killed  in  the 
fullness  of  his  glory. 

168.  The  Swedes  were  overwhelmed  with  sorrow,  and 
began  almost  to  despair  of  their  cause  3  for  the  successor  of 


THE   THIRTY  YEARS'    WAR.  367 

Gustavus  was  an  infant  only  seven  years  old.  Fortunately, 
the  council  of  regency  intrusted  the  manage-  Affairs  after 
ment  of  the  German  war  to  Ox'enstiern,  a  "^'^  death, 
statesman  of  the  highest  abilities.  Under  his  guidance  the 
Protestant  cause  soon  began  to  assume  a  formidable  aspect ; 
the  organization  of  the  armies  was  once  more  completed, 
and  the  chief  command  intrusted  to  the  Duke  of  Saxe-Wei- 
tnar,  a  worthy  successor  of  the  great  Gustavus. 

169.  An  unexpected  event  soon  after  greatly  raised  the 
confidence  of  the  Protestants.  The  Emperor  Death  of  Wau 
Ferdinand  had  reason  to  suspect  that  Wallen-  'enstein. 
stein  meditated  a  revolt,  and  was  about  to  use  the  imperial 
army  as  a  means  of  obtaining  sovereign  power.  Though 
Wallenstein's  guilt  was  established  by  undoubted  proof,  he 
was  too  powerful  in  the  camp  to  be  arrested.  Under  these 
circumstances  the  Emperor  had  recourse  to  the  disgraceful 
expedient  of  assassination  ;  and  Wallenstein  was  murdered 
(1634)  by  some  of  his  own  officers,  who  had  an  imperial 
warrant  for  the  crime. 

170.  The  war  now  assumed  a  new  aspect,  by  the  fact 
that  France  under  Richelieu  took  a  direct  part  New  phase  of 
in  the  contest.     In  fact,  it  became  a  war  for  *^^  ^^'■• 

the  aggrandizement  of  France,  —  and  all  the  more  so  as 
most  of  the  Protestant  states  of  Germany  made  peace  with 
the  Emperor  in  1635.  Under  the  guidance  of  Richelieu 
and  Oxenstiern  the  struggle  went  on  in  most  parts  of 
Europe  with  varying  success. 

171.  After  the  death  of  Richelieu,  in  1642,  his  policy  of 
hostility  to  Austria  was  continued  by  Cardinal  situation  after 
Mazarin,  who  succeeded  to  the  power  of  Riche-  R"=heheu. 
lieu.  The  Emperor  Ferdinand  had  died  five  years  before ; 
so  that  the  latter  part  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  went  on 
under  a  different  emperor  and  different  rulers,  both  of 
France  and  Sweden,  from  those  under  whom  it  had  begun. 

172.  In  this  latter  part  of  the  war  the  French  armies, 


368  MODERN  HISTORY. 

under  their  great  leaders,  Turenne  and  Condd,  were 
French  sue-  crowncd  with  such  success  that  the  Emperor 
cesses.  found   it   necessary    to    propose    a   treaty   in 

order  to  prevent  the  dismemberment  of  Germany.  After 
long  and  tedious  negotiations  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia  was 
signed  at  Munster,  in  1648. 

173-  The  Treaty  of  Westphalia  is  one  of  the  most  ira- 
Nature  of  the  portant  treaties  in  the  history  of  Europe.  It 
treaty.  established  the  religious  independence  of  the 

Protestant  states,  and  formally  acknowledged  the  indepen- 
dence of  Switzerland  and  Holland.  And,  what  was  even 
more  important,  the  two  foreign  kingdoms  that  had  had  the 
chief  share  in  the  war,  France  and  Sweden,  obtained  posses- 
sions within  the  Empire,*  and  also  as  sureties  of  the  peace 
they  obtained  a  general  right  of  meddling  in  the  affairs  of 
Germany. 

174.  To  Germany  the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  most  ruin- 
Effect  of  the      ous.     The  Empire  was  thoroughly  shattered, 

war  on  Ger-  o     y  ' 

many.  and  became  a  mere  lax  confederation  of  petty 

despotisms  and  oligarchies,  with  hardly  any  national  feel- 
ing. Whatever  traces  were  left,  either  of  authority  in  the 
Empire  or  freedom  in  the  people,  quite  died  out.  Thus 
began  that  weakness  and  disintegration  which  marked 
Germany  for  the  next  two  centuries,  and  from  which  the 
Teutonic  Fatherland  has  only  in  our  own  day  been  lifted 
into  unity  by  mighty  throes. 

3.     THE  AGE  OF   LOUIS  XIV. 

75.    Before  narrating  the  history  of  the  age  of  Loui5 

Review  of  XIV.  we  must  glance  at  the  events  that  con- 
events   down  ,    .  -11  •  r     TT  -r-rr  1 

to  Richelieu,      ncct  this  age  With  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  the 

*  France  obtained  Alsace,  Brisach,  Metz,  Verdun,  and  other  territo- 
ries ;  Sweden  got  Upper  Pomerania,  Stettin,  the  isle  of  Riigen,  Bremen, 
etc.,  with  three  votes  at  the  Diet. 


THE  AGE  OF  LGUIS  XIV.  369 

period  at  which  we  stopped  in  our  last  survey  of  French 
history.  Henry  IV.  died  by  the  dagger  of  Ravaillac  in 
16 10.  His  son,  Louis  XHL,  being  then  but  nine,  the  queen- 
mother,  Mary  de  Medici,  ruled  as  regent.  It  was  a  time  of 
miserable  court  cabals,  and  France,  which  under  Henry  IV*/ 
itiad  risen  to  high  prosperity  and  splendor,  sank  into  weak- 
ness, faction,  and  disorder.  Louis  XIII.,  becoming  of  age, 
assumed  the  government ;  but  he  was  a  feeble  character. 
By  the  advice  of  his  favorites  he  banished  his  mother :  she 
took  up  her  residence  at  Blois,  rallied  the  dissatisfied  nobles 
around  her,  and  for  two  years  the  kingdom  was  kept  in  a 
state  of  anarchy.  In  the  midst  of  these  events  a  man  came 
to  the  front  who  was  to  be  the  real  king  of  France,  and  to 
mark  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  Europe.  This  man  was 
the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 

176.  A  few  years  before  this  time  a  quiet-looking  young 
ecclesiastic  named  Armand  Duplessis  de  Riche-  Advancement 
lieu  had  spoken  with  eloquence  at  a  meeting  °^  Richeheu. 
of  the  States-General,  and  had  been  appointed  Bishop  of 
Lu^on.  Then  he  became  spiritual  adviser  to  Mary  de 
Medici ;  and,  as  it  was  through  his  tact  that  the  quarrel  be- 
tween herself  and  her  son  was  made  up,  the  queen-mother 
succeeded  in  getting  for  him  a  cardinal's  hat  from  the 
Pope,  and  in  having  Louis  XIII.  agree  to  admit  him  to  the 
cabinet.  He  was  only  to  give  his  opinion  :  he  was  to  affect 
no  state,  to  hold  no  levees,  and  to  behave  in  all  respects  as 
a  simple,  humble-minded  ecclesiastic.  But  no  sooner  had 
he  taken  his  seat  at  the  council-board  than  it  was  evident 
that  the  true  man  was  found.  For  twent}'  years  (1622- 
1642),  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  he  exercised  an  entire 
control  over  the  king,  making  him,  as  was  said,  "  the  first 
man  in  Europe,  but  the  second  in  his  own  kingdom." 

177.  Richelieu  has  been  compared  with  Wolsey  of  Eng- 
land, and  there  are  certainly  points  of  compari-   comparison 
son.     Like  him  he  was  a  prelate,  a  minister,  a   ^'^^  Woisey, 

i6»  X 


370  MODERN  HISTORY. 

consummate  politician,  and  a  master  of  the  arts  of  intrigue. 
He  gave  his  whole  attention  and  all  his  vast  abilities  to 
affairs  of  state,  was  prodigal  of  display,  and  entertained 
projects  of  the  most  towering  ambition.  He  added  to  his 
ministerial  and  priestly  dignities  the  emoluments  and  hon- 
ors of  the  profession  of  arms,  assumed  the  title  and  dress 
of  generalissimo  of  the  French  army,  and  wore  alternately 
the  helmet  of  the  warrior  and  the  scarlet  hat  of  the  cardi- 
nal. Richelieu,  however,  was  far  more  crafty  than  the  min- 
ister of  Henry  VIH.,  and  more  unscrupulous,  while  at  the 
same  time  he  pursued  a  more  profound  and  comprehensive 
policy. 

178.  The  chief  domestic  object  of  Richelieu  was  the 
Domestic  poi-  crushinGf  of  the  Hu2:uenots.     Alienated  by  per- 

icy  of  Riche-  .  ,  ,       ,  ,  ,  rr     1 

lieu.  secution,  they  had  attempted  to  throw  on  their 

allegiance,  and  establish  an  independent  state  of  which  Ro- 
chelle  was  to  be  capital.  Richelieu  laid  siege  to  this  city, 
which,  after  maintaining  a  most  obstinate  resistance  for  a 
year,  during  which  15,000  persons  perished,  was  forced  to 
surrender  (162S.)  By  this  event  the  civil  war  was  ended, 
and  the  Protestant  power  in  France  finally  crushed. 

179.  The  principal  aim  of  Richelieu's  foreign  policy  was 
His  foreign  the  humiliation  of  Austria.  This  he  accom- 
poiicy.  plished  by  giving  his  aid  to  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War  ;  and  after  the  death  of  that 
hero  France  took  the  field  directly  as  one  of  the  com- 
batants of  the  struggle. 

180.  The  power  of  the  nobles  was  always  hostile  to 
Dealings  with  Richelieu  ;  but  his  stern  resolve  and  deep  craft 
the  nobles.  thwarted  all  their  schemes  against  him.  When 
he  got  them  in  his  grasp  he  did  not  spare,  as  Montmorency, 
Cinq-Mars,  and  De  Thou  —  all  of  whom  were  executed  for 
plots  against  him  —  bitterly  experienced. 

181.  In  1642  the  great  Cardinal  died.  He  had  extended 
the  glory  of  the   French   name  to   distant   regions,  com- 


THE  AGE   OF  LOUIS  XIV. 


371 


Richelieu. 


manded  the  respect  of  all  the  European  powers,  patronized 

literature     Death  of  the 
and       SCi-    cardinal. 

ence,  and  founded 
the  French  Academy. 
Five  months  later  died 
the  nobody  who  wore 
the  crown. 

182.  Louis  XIII. 
left  a  son  who  was  at 
this  time  only  five 
years  old,  but  who, 
under  the  Reign  of 
title  of  Louis  XIV. 
Louis  XIV.,  inherited 
the  throne  of  France. 
The  reign  of  this  king 
forms  the  main  topic  of  this  chapter.  It  had  the  extraor- 
dinary duration  of  seventy-two  years,  lasting  from  1643  to 
17 1 5.  It  is  usually  regarded  as  one  of  the  great  periods 
of  French  history,  for  during  this  space  France  rose  to  be 
the  most  formidable  power  in  Europe. 

183.  The  long  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  naturally  divides  it- 
self into  three  eras:    i.   The   government  of 
Mazarin  ;  2.  The  development  of  the  ambitious 
policy  of  the  king ;  3.  Its  retribution. 

184.  During  the  minority  of  Louis  XIV.  the  regency  was 
in  the  hands  of  his  mother,  Anne  of  Austria. 
She  took  as  her  counselor  an  Italian,  Cardinal 
Mazarin,  who  became  the  guide  and  master  of  the  weak 
and  self-willed  queen. 

185.  At  this  time  the  war  against  Spain  and  the  Emperor 
of  Germany,  begun  by  Richelieu  and  forming  Part  in  the 
part  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  still  continued.   War. 

The  result  was  glorious  for  the  arms  of  France.    Conde,  an 


Three  epochs. 


The  regency. 


372  MODERN  HISTORY. 

illustrious  general,  won  a  series  of  brilliant  victories  over 
Spain  and  the  Emperor.  These  victories  were  followed  by 
the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648),  which  concluded  the  Thirty 
Years'  War.  The  pacification,  however,  did  not  extend  to 
Spain,  which  continued  hostilities  for  ten  years  longer. 

186.  Though  triumphant  abroad,  France  was  meanwhile 
Rise  of  the  ^^^  ^  State  of  civil  commotion.  Mazarin,  the 
Fronde.  prime  minister,  was  the  object  of  numerous 
cabals,  while  at  the  same  time  the  exhausted  condition  of 
the  finances  brought  the  crown  into  collision  with  the  peo- 
ple. A  reform  party  called  the  Fronde  waged  a  civil  war 
against  the  court  part}',  from  1648  to  1653.  This  move- 
ment had  in  it  promise  of  great  good,  but  it  came  to  naught, 
and  was  marked  by  extreme  frivolity. 

187.  On  the  death  of  Mazarin,  Louis  XIV.,  at  the  age 
LouisXiv.be-  of  twenty-three,  assumed  the  direction  of  the 
comes  king.  government  himself.  The  President  of  the 
Assembly  of  the  Clergy  desired  to  know  to  whom  he  should 
now  address  himself  on  business :  "  To  myself,"  said  Louis ; 
and  he  was  sole  master  of  France  until  his  death. 

188.  Louis  XFV.  had  the  discernment  to  choose  great 

men  as   his  ministers.     Colbert  and   Louvois 

His  ministers.  -i     ,        -i  .    i  rr-  i  i       i- 

filled  the  highest  offices,  and  put  the  finances, 
commerce,  and  the  army  and  navy  on  an  excellent  footing. 

189.  The  king  washed  to  enlarge  his  empire,  and  to 
War  with  render  his  name  illustrious  by  military  renown. 
Spain.  fjg  |-qq].  advantage,  therefore,  of  the  death  of 

■  the  Spanish  king,  Philip  IV.,  to  make  pretensions  to  his 
inheritance  as  the  husband  of  Maria  Theresa,  Philip's 
daughter,  and  to  march  an  army  into  the  Spanish  Nether- 
lands, 1667.  By  the  triple  alliance  of  England,  Holland, 
and  Sweden  he  was  compelled,  by  the  Peace  of  Aix-Ia- 
Chapelle  (1668),  to  surrender,  after  a  short  campaign,  the 
greater  part  of  his  conquests  ;  but  many  of  the  frontier 
towns  of  Flanders  remained  with  France,  and  were  converted 
by  the  great  engineer,  Vauban,  into  iiiiprcgnable  fortresses. 


THE  AGE   OF  LOUIS  XIV.  373 

190.  As  Holland  had  been  the  chief  instrument  in 
checking  the  victorious  course  of  the  haughty  war  begins 
king,  so  she  did  not  fail  to  experience  his  ven-  '^'^^  Holland, 
geance.  Louis  won  Sweden  to  his  side,  and  purchased  the 
favor  of  the  English  king  (Charles  II.)  by  bribes.  Thus 
prepared  and  protected  on  every  side,  Louis,  in  1672, 
began  a  second  war,  which  at  first  was  directed  against 
Holland  alone,  but  in  which  almost  all  the  European  states 
were  involved  during  the  seven  years  of  its  continuance. 

191.  The  Hollanders  saw  the  approaching  storm,  and 
turned  their  eyes  to  a  young  man,  the  de-  xhe  Dutch 
scendant  of  the  great  Nassaus,  to  whom  they  champion, 
owed  their  deliverance  from  the  Spanish  yoke,  and  in- 
vited him  to  take  the  military  government  into  his  own 
hands.  This  was  William,  Prince  of  Orange,  whom  we 
have  already  seen  as  coming  at  a  later  period  to  the  throne 
of  England. 

192.  Passing  the  Rhine,  the  French  army  pursued  a 
rapid  course  of  victories  into  the  territories  of  French  sue- 
the  United  Netherlands.  In  forty  days  Hoi-  messes. 
land  was  overthrown,  and  the  French  were  already  within 
four  leagues  of  Amsterdam.  De  Witt,  the  Grand  Pension- 
ary, or  chief  magistrate,  of  the  Netherlands,  in  despair 
demanded  terms  of  peace.  The  Embassy  was  insultingly 
dismissed  by  the  French  king,  and  the  people  of  the  Hague 
rushed  desperately  to  the  house  of  De  Witt  and  tore  him 
and  his  brother  Cornelius  to  pieces. 

193.  It  seemed  that  the  ruin  of  Holland  was  now  com- 
plete ;  but  the  calm  and  resolute  William  of  Deeds  of  wii- 
Orange  ventured  on  a  desperate  yet  success-  ''^'"  °^  Orange, 
ful  measure.  Better,  thought  he,  that  the  sea  should  ingulf 
his  country  than  that  his  country  should  lose  its  liberties. 
He  opened  the  sluices  throughout  the  land.  The  German 
Ocean  and  the  Rhine  poured  over  all  the  plain,  and  the 
invading  army  was  limited  to  the  high  grounds  on  whicb 


374  MODERN  HISTORY. 

their  citadels  were  placed.  William  then  sent  forth  the 
Dutch  fleet  to  meet  his  enemies  on  the  sea,  and  the  great 
Admiral  de  Ruyter  met  the  united  French  and  English 
fleets  in  three  combats,  which,  though  indecisive,  were  on 
the  whole  to  the  advantage  of  the  Dutch. 

194.  And  now  from  many  quarters  unlooked-for  aid 
Aid  to  the  Came  to  the  Netherlanders.  Shame  took  pos- 
Dutch.  session  of  the  English  Parliament  at  the  al- 
liance with  France  against  a  Protestant  prince,  and  they 
forced  the  mercenary  Charles  II.  to  sign,  with  his  nephew 
William  of  Orange,  a  treat}^  of  peace,  1674.  It  needed  but 
an  example,  and  every  generous  heart  warmed  to  the 
defender  of  his  country.  The  King  of  Spain,  the  German 
Emperor  Leopold,  and  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  (now 
Prussia)  took  arms  against  the  oppressor. 

195.  A  grand  combat  of  the  nations,  in  which  Louis 
The  giant  XIV.  stood  opposed  to  half  of  Europe,  now  en- 
struggie.  sued.  For  four  years  (1674- 1678)  the  tramp 
of  a  dozen  armies  shook  the  Rhine  provinces,  and  Flanders 
and  Alsace  and  Franche  Comte.  Great  generals,  Turenne 
and  Condd  and  Montecuculi  and  William  of  Orange,  put 
forth  the  mighty  efforts  of  their  genius.  Success  was 
now  with  the  one  side  and  now  with  the  other,  but  it  was 
not  decisive  with  either.  At  length  longings  for  peace 
seized  on  the  heart  of  Europe.  Louis  himself  was  wearied 
with  the  struggle,  which  had  drained  the  resources  of  his 
realm.  Negotiations  were  entered  into,  and  the  war  was 
brought  to  a  close  by  the  Peace  of  Nim'eguen,  1678. 

196.  The  treaty  was  especially  favorable  to  the  interests 
Results  of  the  o^  France,  as  it  secured  to  Louis  the  provinces 
treaty.  ^f  Franche  Comtd,  Alsace,  and  many  of  the 
strong  fortresses  and  industrious  towns  of  Flanders.  Hol- 
land by  the  treaty  recovered  everything,  so  that  Spain  was 
the  chief  loser  by  the  Peace  of  Nimeguen. 

197.  Louis  XIV.  was  now  at  the  height  of  his  power, 


THE  AGE   OP   LOUIS  XIV.  375 

and  the  municipal  authorities  conferred  on  him  the  title  of 
Great.     Yet   in   reality   the   grandeur   of   the   point  of  cui- 
French    monarchy    had    culminated,    for   the   '"'"^tion. 
glory  of  the  king  had  been  bought  at  too  great  a  cost 
The  constant  wars  and  the  despotic  home  government  ot 
Louis  had  weakened  and  impoverished  his  kingdom. 

198.  Avery  impolitic  measure  was  the  Revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  granted  by  Henry  IV.  for  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
toleration  of  the  French  Protestants.*  While  revoked, 
their  worship  was  suppressed,  their  churches  demolished, 
and  their  ministers  banished,  the  Protestant  laity  were  for- 
bidden, under  the  most  rigorous  penalties,  to  quit  the  king- 
dom (1685).  The  government  entered  also  on  a  most  cruel 
persecution,  employing  dragounades,  as  they  were  called  ; 
that  is,  raids  by  parties  of  dragoons,  who  were  allowed  full 
license  to  insult  and  worry  the  heretics  till  their  conversion 
was  obtained.  The  result  was,  that,  in  spite  of  the  pen- 
alties, crowds  of  Huguenots  continued  to  escape  from 
France,  which  thus  lost  500,000  of  her  most  industrious 
and  useful  subjects. 

199.  The  Revolution  of  1688  brought  the  Dutch  Stadt- 
holder,  William  of  Orange,  to  the  throne  of  Grand  Aiii- 
England.  He  had  been  the  persistent  enemy  ^""  formed, 
of  Louis,  and  being  now  at  the  head  of  a  great  nation,  he 
had  a  very  formidable  backing.  King  William  became  the 
soul  of  a  general  league,  called  the  Grand  Alliance,  which 
was  now  made  against  the  aggressions  of  Louis. 

200.  The  war  went  on  almost  everywhere  at  once,  and 
many  battles  were  fought  and  towns  taken  on   ^, 

The  result. 

both  sides,  especially  in  the  Netherlands.     It 
was  at  last  ended  by  the  Peace  of  Ryswick  (1697),  which 
retrenched  some  of  the  unjust  conquests  of  Louis  XIV.  on 
the  Rhine  and  in  the  Netherlands,  and  recognized  William 
III.  as  the  lawful  sovereign  of  England. 

*  See  p.  33«. 


376  MODERN  HISTORY. 

201.  Another  great  war  in  which  Louis  was  the  moving 
War  of  Span-  Spirit  broke  out  in  the  year  1701.  This  is 
ish  succession.  j.jj]lg^  tj^g  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession.  The 
manner  in  which  it  originated  was  as  follows.  The  King 
of  Spain,  Charles  II.,  died  in  the  year  1700,  leaving  no 
children,  but  leaving  a  will  by  which  he  bequeathed  the 
succession  of  his  house  to  a  grandson  of  Louis  XIV.,  named 
Philip  of  Anjou.  This  at  once  alarmed  the  nations  of 
Europe  as  a  menace  to  the  Balance  of  Power,  for  Philip  of 
Anjou  was  a  mere  boy.  The  astute  and  ambitious  Louis 
XIV.  would  himself  be  the  real  ruler,  and  the  close  union 
of  two  such  kingdoms  as  France  and  Spain  was  greatly 
to  be  feared. 

202.  Accordingly  the  German  Emperor  and  William  IIL 
Narrative  of  of  England  United  with  Holland  and  Prussia 
events.  ^^  prevent  Philip's  wearing  the  crown  of  Spain. 
They  supported  the  claims  of  the  Archduke  Charles,  second 
son  of  the  German  Emperor,  as  King  of  Spain.  William 
IIL,  who  was  the  head  of  the  coalition,  died  in  the  midst  of 
his  hopes  and  preparations ;  but  two  men  rose  in  his  place, 
—  one  the  greatest  general  except  one  in  the  annals  of  Eng- 
land, John  Churchill,  Duke  of  Marlborough ;  the  other. 
Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  who  headed  the  armies  of  the 
Emperor. 

203.  This  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  lasted  for  thir- 
Resuitofthe  teen  years  (1701-1714),  and  resulted  in  the 
^^'■-  humiliation  of  Louis  XIV.  The  French  king 
was  defeated  in  all  his  plans.  Marlborough  sent  his  mar- 
shals in  headlong  flight  from  Blen'heim,  Ramillies',  Oude'- 
narde,  and  Malplaquet.  Gibraltar  was  wrested  forever  from 
Spain  and  attached  to  England.  The  French  fleets  were 
burned  at  Vigo,  and  Toulon  was  besieged  by  sea  and  land. 
Prince  Eugene  in  the  mean  time  crushed  the  French  power 
in  Italy  and  approached  the  boundaries  of  France.  Domes- 
tic sorrow,  too,  came  to  Louis.     His  only  son  died,  then 


THE  AGE   OF  LOUIS  XIV.  377 

two  of  his  grandsons  ;  and  nobody  remained  in  the  direct 
line  of  succession  to  the  old  man  of  seventy-four  but  a 
great-grandson,  then  a  child  in  arms. 

204.  Nevertheless,  Louis  succeeded  so  far  that  he  estab- 
lished Philip  of  Anion  on  the  throne  of  Spain  :   Sudden  suc- 

,     ,  .         ,  .    ,         ,  ,  ^  cess  of  Louis 

and  the  way  in  which,  after  so  many  defeats,  xiv. 
this  came  about  is  rather  curious.  The  allies  were  contend- 
ing with  France  to  set  the  Archduke  Charles  of  Austria  on 
the  throne  of  Spain,  in  order  to  prevent  too  close  a  union 
between  Spain  and  France.  Now,  in  the  thirteenth  year  of 
the  war  the  Emperor  of  Germany  died,  and  the  Archduke 
Charles  became  Emperor.  If  //.,  \\  e^  e  made  King  of  Spain 
while  at  the  same  time  German  Emperor,  would  not  the 
Balance  of  Power,  about  which  the  allies  were  so  anxious, 
be  still  more  daringly  menaced }  Accordingly  Louis  XIV. 
was  surprised  to  find  his  nomination  of  Philip  to  the  Span- 
ish crown  suddenly  ratified  by  England  and  Holland.  The 
chief  point  was  conceded,  and  Philip  V.  became  the  first  of 
the  Bourbon  line  in  Spain.  The  treaties  of  Utrecht  (1713) 
and  of  Rastadt  (17 14)  terminated  the  war.  The  next  year 
Louis  XIV.  died. 

205.  During  the  last  thirty  years  of  the  reign  of  Louis 
XIV.  France  stood  at  the  culminating  point  of  Position  of 
her  power  abroad  and  of  her  prosperity  at  France, 
home,  so  that  the  flattering  chronicles  of  those  days  de- 
scribed the  period  of  Louis  Qjiatorze  as  the  golden  age  of 
France.  Trade  and  industry  received  a  prodigious  develop- 
ment by  the  care  of  Colbert ;  the  woolen  and  silk  manufac- 
tures, the  stocking  and  cloth  weaving,  which  flourished  in 
the  southern  towns,  brought  prosperity ;  the  maritime  force 
increased ;  colonies  were  planted ;  and  the  productions  of 
France  were  carried  by  trading-companies  to  all  parts  of 
the  world. 

206.  In  this  age  also  the  court  of  France  displayed  a 
magnificence  that  had  never  before  been  witnessed.     Sump- 


378  MODERN  HISTORY. 

tuous  buildings,  costly  libraries,  splendid  literary  produc- 
Thc  court  and  tions,  vast  establishments  for  the  natural  sci- 
manners.  enccs,  academies  and  similar  institutions,  ex- 

alted the  glory  and  renown  of  the  Great  Monarch.  The 
refined  air  of  society,  the  polished  tone,  the  easy  manners 
of  the  nobility  and  courtiers,  subdued  Europe  more  per- 
manently and  extensively  than  the  weapons  of  the  army. 
French  manners  and  fashions  bore  sway  from  this  time  in 
all  the  higher  circles  of  society,  and  the  French  language 
and  French  style  attained  supremacy  in  Europe. 

207.  Nevertheless,  it  was  not  a  period  which  any  one 
True  character  who  lovcs  the  greatest  of  all  things,  political 
of  the  age.  liberty  and  the  true  virtue  of  nations,  can  re- 
gard with  unmixed  satisfaction.  We  must,  in  summing  up 
the  Age  of  Louis  XIV.,  carefully  guard  against  the  false 
political  philosophy  that  would  teach  us  to  judge  an  epoch 
by  its  mere  external  glitter.  For  beneath  the  polish  and 
veneer  was  utter  rottenness.  The  government,  though  tem- 
pered by  courteous  manners  and  superficial  polish,  was  an 
Oriental  despotism,  and  Louis  XIV.  himself  summed  up 
all  the  political  characteristics  of  the  reign  in  one  signifi- 
cant sentence,  "  I  am  the  State  "  {L'Efat  c^est  mot).  The 
means  to  carry  on  the  great  and  often  unjust  wars  whose 
victories  are  cited  as  the  ground  of  our  admiration,  were 
raised  by  a  severe  and  unequal  taxation  that  pressed  heavily 
on  the  cultivators  of  the  soil.  Under  a  flimsy  veil  of  pro- 
priety and  politesse,  the  morals  of  society  were  exceedingly 
corrupt.  The  literature  of  the  age  was  brilliant,  but  it  was 
at  the  same  time  servile.  Louis  put  the  muses  into  his  liv- 
ery, as  he  had  already  done  with  the  nobility,  and  artists  and 
authors  took  his  wages  to  cover  him  with  official  adulation. 

208.  The  great  characteristic  of  the  age,  in  fact,  is  its 
Its  artificial-  artificialit}',  which  pervaded  everything,  —  lit- 
'*y-  erature,  conversation,  manners,  life.  The  king 
himself  wore  red  heels  to  his  shoes,  four  inches  high,  which 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION:  2>79 


addition  was  supposed  to  make  his  stature  something  very 
imposing.  And  so  when  he  danced  in  public,  and  stalked 
across  the  scene,  rolling  his  eyes  and  turning  out  his  toes, 
it  was  thought  the  sublimest  spectacle  on  earth  ;  and  all  the 
gentlemen  of  France  then  walked  with  a  strut,  and  stuck 
out  their  elbows,  and  tied  themselves  in  at  the  waist.  The 
whole  reign  was  a  spectacle,  a  theatrical  display  with  grand 
machinery,  and  calculated  to  excite  astonishment ;  —  and 
the  justest  praise  that  can  be  given  to  the  Grand  Monarque 
is  in  the  sentence  of  Bolingbroke,  who  pronounced  Louis 
XIV.  "  the  best  actor  of  majesty  that  ever  filled  a  throne."    ^ 

4.     PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION. 

209.  The  17th  century  is  one  of  the  most  active  and 
progressive  periods  in  the  intellectual  history  character  of 
of  Europe.  A  great  revival  had  begun  in  the  ^^^  century, 
previous  century,  and  in  this  century  it  was  carried  forward 
in  great  scientific  discoveries,  in  striking  improvements  in 
philosophy,  in  powerful  literatures,  and  in  a  general  advance 
in  the  condition  of  the  people. 

210.  In  philosophy  the  most  notable  change  was  the 
substitution  of  the  modern  method  of  inductive  Bacon  and  hi« 
inquiry  for  the  barren  and  fruitless  method  of  philosophy, 
reasoning  which  had  come  down  from  Aristotle  to  the 
schoolmen,  and  which  consisted  in  assuming  causes  instead  * 
of  interrogating  Nature  herself.  The  name  of  Bacon  is  asso- 
ciated with  the  new  philosophy,  which,  indeed,  is  often  called 
the  Baconian  method.  But  Bacon  was  not  so  much  the 
author  of  the  change  as  an  evidence  that  the  change  had 
taken  place. 

211.  The  man  to  whom  the  new  philosophy  was  per- 
haps more  indebted   than  to  any  other  was  _ 

the  French   philosopher   Descartes  ^dd-carf\ 

He  found   uncertainty  and  doubt  everjrwhere,   and  gave 


380  MODERN  HISTORY. 

himself  to  the  study  of  certainties  by  universal  doubt ;  not 
nursing  doubt  as  a  skeptic,  but  striving  to  arrive  at  truth 
by  dismissing  all  prejudices.  He  then  starts  from  this 
fact,  —  /  think ;  or,  as  he  expresses  it,  Cogito,  ergo  sum* 
Then,  /  exist,  not  of  my  own  wi/l,  but  from  sofne  source  out  of 
myself  Then,  I  cannot  come  from  any  source  less  perfect  than 
my  own  ideas  of  perfection,  etc. 

212.  A  still  bolder  course  was  pursued  contemporane- 

ously by  a  Jew  of  Holland,  Spino'za,  who  by 
pinoza.  ^  method   akin  to  geometrical  demonstration 

proved  that  there  must  be  only  one  "  Infinite  Substance," 
of  which  all  the  various  forms  of  existence  are  but  emana- 
tions. Ignorant  and  uncharitable  persons  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  call  him  an  atheist,  and  speak  evil  of  him ;  but 
he  was  one  of  the  most  virtuous  and  self-denying  of  men. 
While  speculative  philosophy  has  any  interest  for  the  race, 
his  works  will  be  a  wonder  which  thinkers  will  consider 
carefully  as  one  of  the  grandest  and,  in  many  respects, 
most  appalling  creations  of  human  genius. 

213.  In  astronomy  Galileo  led  the  way,  in  the  early  part 
Kepler  and  of  the  17th  century,  by  the  discovery  of  the 
Newton.  satellites  of  the  larger  planets  and  their  mo- 
tions. Then  a  greater  genius  followed :  Kepler  earned 
for  himself  the  title  of  the  "  legislator  of  the  heavens,"  by 
investigating  with  enormous  labor  three  of  the  great  laws 
that  regulate  the  motions  of  the  planets.  Newton  came 
after  Kepler,  and  completed  his  work.  He  demonstrated 
the  theory  of  universal  gravitation,  a  principle  which  solves 
the  chief  phenomena  of  nature  and  connects  and  regu- 
lates the  whole  material  universe.  His  theory  of  light  and 
colors  is  the  foundation  of  the  science  of  optics,  and  his 
Principia  the  basis  of  all  natural  philosophy,  or  physics. 

214.  Newton  was  also  the  discoverer  of  that  most  power- 

•  "  I  think,  therefore  I  am." 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  38 1 

ful  instrument  of  mathematics,   the    Calculus,   Newton  and 
which  he  called  Jluxions,  —  though  it  is  a  curi-   Leibnitz, 
ous  fact  that  Leib'nitz,  a  German  philosopher  of  universal 
genius,  discovered  this  method  independently  about  the  same 
time. 

215.  The  discoveries  in  astronomy  led  to  improvements 
in  navigation.  Napier  abridged  calculation  by  other  great 
the  invention  of  logarithms.  The  Florentine  "a^n^s. 
physicist,  Torricel'li,  laid  the  foundation  of  hydraulics,  and 
invented  the  mercurial  barometer.  Otte  Guericke  [^er'ik-ka  \ 
invented  the  air-pump.  In  1628  Harvey  published  his  dis- 
covery of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  having  spent  nearly 
twenty  years  in  collecting  facts  to  establish  his  theory. 

216.  The  English  Royal  Society,  which  originated  from 
private  meetings  of  the  English  philosophers,  scientific  so- 
was  incorporated  by  Charles  II.  in  1662,  and  «='^t'^s- 
greatly  contributed  to  the  advancement  of  the  sciences  and 
the  useful  arts.  The  French  Academy  of  Sciences  was  insti- 
tuted in  1666  by  Louis  XIV.,  and  similar  institutions  were 
founded  in  most  of  the  countries  of  Europe.  These  socie- 
ties did  much  for  physics  and  chemistry.  Brandt,  an  al- 
chemist, discovered  phosphorus  in  1677. 

217.  The  progress  of  literature  in  the  17th  century  was 
equally  remarkable  with  that  of   science  and 
philosophy.     And  here  the  French  showed  the 

greatest  advance.  The  French  drama  was  the  creation  of 
the  AgQ  of  Louis  XIV.  Corneille'  and  Racine'  brought 
French  tragedy  to  its  highest  elevation.  Corneille  has 
more  grandeur  and  sublimity  than  his  rival,  who  excels  him 
in  the  tender  and  pathetic.  The  comedies  of  Moliere  [mol- 
le-er'~\  are  among  the  finest  productions  of  wit  ever  com.posed. 

218.  The  French  pulpit  oratory  of  this  century  can  boast 
several  unrivaled  names.     Bossuet   [bos-su-a'^ 

,  .  .....  -^     Other  writers. 

was  a  universal  genms  and  spint-stirnng  ora- 
tor ;  Mas'sillon  and  Bourdaloue'  were  reckoned  the  greatest 


382  MODERN  HISTORY. 

of  French  preachers  ;  Fe'n'elon,  the  author  of  Telemague, 
was  an  admired  pastor.  Pascal  was  a  mathematician  when 
a  child,  and  was  famous  in  many  sciences  before  he  had 
attained  manhood.  His  Provincial  Letters,  directed  against 
the  Jesuits,  are  reckoned  masterpieces  of  witty  argument, 
and  he  is  characterized  by  Bayle  as  "  one  of  the  sublimest 
spirits  of  the  world."  The  other  French  writers  of  emi- 
nence are  Rochefoucauld  \ros/i-foo-kd''\,  the  author  of  the 
well-known  keen  and  witty  Maxims;  Boileau  \bwah-lb'\ 
the  critic  and  writer  of  satirical  poems ;  and  La  Fontaine', 
the  modern  ^sop,  and  author  of  the  most  delightful  fables 
ever  written. 

219.  English  literature  continued  to  flourish  in  all  its 
English  litera-  splendor  during  the  tirst  half  of  the  17th 
*"''^-  centur}'.  Shakespeare  died  in  1616;  but  he 
was  followed  by  Ben  Jonson  and  Fletcher  and  Mas'singer. 
The  period  of  civil  war  was  not  favorable  to  literary  prog- 
ress, but  still  there  w^ere  many  w-riters  of  undying  fame 
even  in  those  days  of  strife.  In  verse  Milton  produced 
his  great  epics ;  Jeremy  Taylor  shone  in  prose ;  and 
Bunyan,  the  "  Dreamer  of  Bedford,"  gave  to  the  world  his 
famous  allegories.  The  period  following  the  Restoration 
produced  many  dramatic  writers,  of  w-hom  John  Dr\-den 
was  the  prince.  The  stage  literature  of  the  epoch  w^as,  how- 
ever, marked  by  great  licentiousness.  Butler,  the  author  of 
Hitdibras,  shines  as  a  humorous  and  satirical  writer. 

220.  In  art,  though  the  17th  century  showed  rather  a 
Art  and  the       falling  off  from  the  epic  grandeur  of  the  pre- 

Flemish  .         *  ,  •         -A 

school.  vious  centurv^  yet  there  are  not  wantmg  illus- 

trious names.  At  this  period  it  is,  strange  to  say,  the  Neth- 
erlanders  that  lead  in  art.  Rubens,  born  in  the  previous 
century,  was  the  greatest  painter  of  the  Flemish  school,  and 
specially  famed  for  his  coloring  and  bold  execution.  Ru- 
bens's  famous  pupil,  Vandyck,  was  a  native  of  Antwerp, 
but  was  naturalized  in  England,  where  he  lived  the  larger 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  2>^l 

part  of  his  life,  painting  those  portraits  that  hand  down  to 
us  the  faces  of  most  of  the  beauties  of  Charles  I.'s  court. 
The  third  great  name  of  the  Flemish  school  is  Rem'brandt, 
who  excelled  particularly  in  color  and  the  effects  of  light 
and  shade. 

221.  Of   the    Spanish  painters   Muril'lo   was   the   most 
celebrated  during  this  period.     The    land  of 

Michel    Angelo    and    Raphael    could    during 
this  century  produce  no  greater  name  than  that  of  Salvator 
Rosa,  a  second-class  artist.     England  had  but  little  native 
art,  though  we  may  mention  the  name  of  Sir  Christopher 
Wren,  the  architect  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 

222.  The  social  condition  of  the  European  nations  dur- 
ing the  17th  century  is  a  subject  so  large  and   Europe  in  the 
diversified,  that  we  shall  confine  our  attention   '^th  century, 
to  that   people  in   which  we  are  most   directly  interested, 
namely,  the  English  people.* 

223.  The  country  "  gentlemen,"  now  a  polished  and  im- 
portant class,  were  then  rough  and  poorly  edu-  Engjigj,  „^^. 
caled.  Seldom  leaving  their  native  country,  *''y  ^""^  cfergy. 
even  for  London,  they  spent  their  days  in  field  sports  or 
in  attending  the  neighboring  markets,  and  their  evenings 
m  drinking  strong  beer.  The  ladies  of  the  family,  whose 
accomplishments  seldom  rose  above  the  baking  of  pastry 
or  the  brewing  of  gooseberry-wine,  cooked  the  meals  of 
the  household.  In  the  evening  they  amused  themselves  by 
sewing  and  spinning.  The  country  clergy  stood  low  in  the 
scale.  In  most  mansions  there  was  a  chaplain,  or,  as  he 
was  often  called,  a  Levite,  who,  receiving  his  board  and 
$  50  a  year,  was  no  better  than  an  upper  servant.  When  he 
married,  his  wife  was  usually  selected  from  the  kitchen  of 
his  patron. 

*  The  details  here  given  are  derived  chiefly  from  the  well-known 
third  chapter  of  Macaulay' s  Histmy  of  England,  which  should  be  read 
in  full  for  a  vivid  picture  of  English  life  in  the  17th  century. 


384  MODERN  HISTORY. 


221^.  The  yeomen,  or  small  farmers,  were  numerous 
and  influential.  It  is  estimated  that  under  the 
Stuarts  one  seventh  of  the  whole  population 
of  England  cultivated  lands  of  their  own.  Men  of  this 
class  were  characterized  by  a  spirit  of  independence  and  a 
leaning  towards  Puritanism,  and  they  formed  the  strength 
of  the  Roundhead  armies.  Since  then  very  many  of  the 
small  freeholds  have  been  bought  up  by  large  proprietors, 
and  the  English  yeomanry  of  the  present  day  are,  in  con- 
sequence, much  less  independent  in  political  matters  than 
the  same  class  of  men  in  the  17th  century. 

225.  Of  the  laboring  classes  we  know  little.  Four  fifths 
Laboring  o^  them  were  employed  in  agriculture,  at  wages 
classes.  averaging  from  four  to  six  shillings  (English) 
per  week.  A  mechanic,  as  late  as  the  reign  of  Charles  II., 
worked  for  a  shilling  a  day,  but  oftentimes  he  was  com- 
pelled to  take  less.  The  chief  food  of  the  poor  was  rye, 
barley,  or  oats.  Rude  ballads  were  their  only  means  of 
complaint,  and  in  these  they  poured  forth  their  woes.  The 
"  poor-rate  "  was  the  heaviest  tax,  for  the  paupers  amounted 
to  no  less  than  one  fifth  of  the  community. 

226.  In  the  English  people  there  seems  to  have  been  a 
Brutality  of  remarkable  vein  of  coarseness  and  brutality ; 
the  people.  j^qj.  jg  j.]^jg  wouderful  whcu  the  practice  of 
every-day  life  is  considered.  Masters  beat  their  servants  ; 
husbands  beat  their  wives  daily.  Teachers  used  the  lash 
as  the  principal  means  of  imparting  knowledge.  The  mob 
rejoiced  in  fights  of  all  kinds,  and  shouted  with  glee  when 
an  eye  was  torn  out,  or  a  finger  chopped  ofT,  in  these  savage 
encounters.  Executions  were  favorite  public  amusements. 
The  prisons  were  constantly  full,  and  proved  to  be  fruitful 
nurseries  of  crime. 

227.  To  describe  the  various  costumes  and  manners  of 
Costumes  of      the  pcHod  would  be  impossible  within  brief 

Cavalier  and  .  ,  i     i         i  j. 

Roundhead.       compass,  —  SO  a  f ew  pomts  on  each  head  must 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  385 


suffice.  The  Cavalier  and  the  Roundhead  present  a  strik- 
ing contrast  in  their  dress  and  habits.  The  Cavalier  cos- 
tume consisted  of  a  tunic  of  silk  or  satin  with  slashed 
sleeves  ;  a  rich  lace  collar  adorned  the  neck,  and  a  short 
cloak  hung  gracefully  over  one  shoulder.  Short  full  drawers, 
or  trousers,  almost  reached  the  top  of  the  wide  boots,  which 
came  half-way  up  the  calf  of  the  leg.  A  broad-brimmed 
beaver,  adorned  with  a  rich  band  and  a  plume  of  feathers, 
covered  the  head.  The  hair  hung  in  curls  over  the  shoul- 
ders, and  the  beard  was  trimmed  to  a  point,  while  the  love- 
locks were  tied  up  with  a  pretty  colored  ribbon.  The  Puri- 
tan Roundhead  wore  a  cloak  of  sad-colored  brown  or  black, 
a  plain  collar  of  linen  laid  carelessly  down  on  the  plaited 
cloth,  and  a  hat  with  a  high,  steeple-shaped  crown  over  his 
closely  clipped  or  lank  straight  hair. 

228.  With  regard  to  the  ladies'  dresses,  the  farthingale 
and  stiff  ruffs  of  the  Elizabethan  period  gave 

1  r^^        ^  t  n        •  i  •  i     Ladies*   dress. 

way,  under  Charles  I.,  to  nowmg  skirts,  and 
falling  collars  edged  with  lace.  The  costumes  of  the  court 
of  Charles  II.  were  something  of  the  same  style,  but  the 
dress  was  worn  indecently  low.  An  improvement  in  the  lat- 
ter respect  was  made  after  the  Revolution  of  1688.  Then, 
too,  began  the  fashion  of  looping  up  the  skirts  to  show 
the  rich  underclothing,  and  the  custom  of  wearing  the  hair 
combed  up  like  a  tower.  Both  these  fashions  disappeared 
at  the  close  of  the  period,  when  curls  and  the  old  farthingale, 
under  the  name  of  the  hoop-petticoat,  came  again  into  use. 

229.  The  means  of  communication  between  one  place 
and  another  were  very  deficient.  The  roads  Means  of  com- 
were  in  a  most  wretched  state,  and  canals  '"""''nation, 
were  scarcely  yet  thought  of.  In  wet  weather  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  get  along  the  highways  in  any  kind  of  car- 
riage. The  rich  traveled  in  their  own  coaches,  but  six 
horses  at  least  were  required  to  overcome  the  badness  of 
the  roads.     The  post-bags  were  carried  on  horseback  at  the 

17  H 


386 


MODERN  HISTORY. 


rate  of  five  miles  an  hour ;  but  in  many  country  places 
letters  were  delivered  only  once  a  week.  The  erection  of 
toll-gates  in  1663  was  the  first  step  towards  improving  the 
means  of  transit.  Bad  roads  and  conveyances  were  not 
the  only  drawbacks  to  traveling  in  this  period.  Mounted 
highwaymen  infested  all  the  most  frequented  ways,  and  it 
was  not  safe  even  for  a  public  coach  in  broad  day  to  pass 
certain  places  unless  the  passengers  were  well  armed. 

230.  The  state  of  culture  and  education  was  very  low. 
Culture  and  There  was  nothing  equal  to  our  modern  news- 
education,  paper,  and  there  were  few  printing-presses  in 
the  country  except  in  London  and  at  the  Universities. 
Books  were  therefore  scarce  and  dear.  Female  education 
was  at  a  very  low  point,  and  the  most  accomplished  ladies 
spelled  their  letters  very  badly. 

231.  Those  great  branches  of   manufacturing  industry 

which  now  form  the  wealth  of  England  were 

Industries.  ,  .         ,      .       .     ^  ,_,,  , 

then  m  their  mfancy.  The  woolen  manufac- 
ture was  the  leading  industry,  though  the  silk  manufacture 
began  to  attract  attention  during  this  period.  The  linen 
manufacture  was  chiefly  a  domestic  employment ;  the  cot- 
ton-trade was  almost  unknown.  The  mineral  wealth  of  the 
country  was  quite  neglected,  and  not  until  the  close  of  this 
century  did  it  begin  to  receive  some  attention. 


GREAT  NAMES  OF  THE   i^TH  CENTURY.        387 


GREAT   NAMES   OF  THE   SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY. 


PHILOSOPHERS   AND   SCIENTISTS. 

Francis  Bacon  (1561-1626),  the  greatest  of  English  philosophers ■ 
is  called  the  founder  of  the  Inductive  system 
of  philosophy  (as  opposed  to  the  Deductive 
or  Aristotelian  system)  ;  for,  though  it  was 
applied  before  his  time,  he  was  the  first  to 
put  the  method  in  philosophic  form  —  his 
great  works,  the  A'iw/^w  Orgaiium  and  the 
Advancemejit  of  Learning;  but  the  book  by 
which  he  is  best  known  is  his  Essays. 

Descartes  (1596- 1650),  a  great  French 
philosopher  —  was  brought  up  for  the  army, 
but  abandoned  the  profession  and  retired  ^°'^^  Bacon. 

to  Holland  to  study  philosophy  —  was  tutor  of  Queen  Christina  of 
Sweden  —  had  a  great  influence  on  the  method  of  philosophizing  in 
the  17th  century. 

Hobbes  (158S-1679),  a  famous  English  philosopher — was  early  asso- 
ciated with  Galileo  and  Descartes  —  he  partly  educated  Prince 
Charles — was  a  "freethinker,"  but  not  a  deist  or  atheist  —  chief 
works,  the  Leviathan  and  the  Behemoth. 

Kepler  (1571  - 1630),  an  illustrious  German  mathematician  and  astron- 
omer—  he  discovered  what  are  known  as  Kepler's  "Three  Laws," 
which  laid  the  foundation  of  mathematical  astronomy  —  one  of  the 
greatest  thinkers  of  any  age,  combining  the  inspiration  of  a  prophet 
and  poet  with  the  method  of  a  mathematician  —  passed  most  of  his  life 
in  great  poverty. 

Harvey  (1578- 1657),  studied  medicine  at  Padua,  England  having  no 
schools  for  the  purpose  —  in  1615,  as  lecturer  at  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians, he  first  announced  his  discovery  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 

Spinoza  (1622- 1677),  of  Jewish  birth— one  of  the  great  modern 
philosophers  —  much  persecuted  for  his  inquiring  and  skeptical  turn 
of  mind  —  led  a  very  simple  and  virtuous  life  —  his  philosophy  is  very 
profound,  and  his  greatest  work  is  Ethica  Mp7-e  Geometrica  Demon- 
strata  ("  Ethics  Demonstrated  by  Geometric  Method  "). 

Isaac  Newton  (1642 -1727),  professor  of  mathematics  at  Cambridge 

discoverer  of  the  law  of  universal  gravitation — remarkable  also  for 

his  optical  discoveries  —  chief  work,  Frincipia,  a  Latin  treatise  on 
natural  philosophy. 


388  MODERN  HISTORY. 


Leibnitz  (1640- 1716),  a  jurist,  historian,  mathematician,  and  meta- 
physician—  the  most  learned  of  modern  philosophers,  and  the  founder 
of  the  eclectic  system  of  German  philosophy. 

ARTISTS. 

Rubens  (1577-  1640),  born  in  Westphalia,  but  son  of  a  Dutch  refugee 
from  Antwerp  —  destined  for  a  lawyer,  but  was  a  painter  by  nature  — 
his  industry  resulted  in  four  thousand  pictures  and  sketches,  and  his 
wealth  was  immense  —  as  a  painter  of  portraits  and  historical  scenes 
was  almost  unrivaled  —  most  famous  pieces,  the  Descent  from  the  Cross, 
the  Last  Judgment,  Peace  and  War,  etc. 

Vandyck  (1599- 1641),  son  of  a  glass-painter  —  pupil  of  Rubens  — 
went  to  England  in  1632 — celebrated  for  his  portraits — those  of 
Charles  I.  and  Strafford  very  fine  —  best  historical  picture,  The 
Crucifixion. 

Rembrandt  (1606- 1669),  a  native  of  Leyden,  and  one  of  the  most 
original  and  able  painters  that  ever  lived  —  excelled  particularly  in 
color  and  the  effects  of  light  and  shade,  but  shows  lack  of  refinement 
in  his  figures. 

Poussin  {1594- 1655),  born  at  Andely  in  Normandy  —  a  great  painter 
—  among  his  works  are  the  Death  of  Germanicus,  the  Taking  of  Je- 
rusalem, and  the  Last  Supper. 

Murillo  (1618-1682),  one  of  the  most  celebrated  Spanish  painters — 
his  earlv  pictures  are  taken  from  humble  life,  as  beggar-boys,  flower- 
girls,  etc.  —  his  later  productions  are  religious  pieces,  as  Madonnas, 
holy  families,  etc.  —  died  of  a  severe  fall  whilst  engaged  in  painting 
the  interior  of  a  church. 

WRITERS. 

Ben  Jensen  (1574-  1637),  in  early  life  a  soldier —  then  an  actor — poet' 
laureate  under  James  I.  —  author  of  fifteen  plays  extant,  chiefly  come- 
dies, and  numerous  masques  —  earliest  comedy,  Every  ma?i  in  his 
Humor. 

Calderon  (De  la  Barca)  (1601-1681),  a  distinguished  Spanish 
dramatist  —  born  at  Madrid  —  wrote  about  five  hundred  pieces. 

Corneille  (1606- 1684),  a  great  French  dramatist  —  born  at  Rouen  — 
made  his  fame  by  his  tragedy  of  the  Cid — other  great  works,  Hor- 
ace and  Cinna. 

John  Milton  (1608- 1674),  the  greatest  epic  poet  of  modern  times  — 
Latin  secretary  to  Oliver  Cromwell  —  author  of  Paradise  Lost  and 
Paradise  Regained,  which  were  written  in  poveny  and  blindness  — 


GREAT  NAMES  OF  THE   it  Til  CENTURY,         389 

numerous  masques  and  sonnets  came  from  his  pen — wrote  also  in 

prose  —  his  genius  remained  unnoticed  under  the  Stuarts. 
Samuel  Butler  (1612-1680),  son  of  a  Worcestershire  farmer  —  author 

of  a  mock-heroic  poem  called  Hudibras,  which  was  a  famous  satire 

upon  the  Puritans. 
Jeremy  Taylor  (1613-1667),  an  English  bishop  after  the  Restoration 

—  wrote  on  theology  —  author  oi  Liberty  of  Prophesying,  Holy  Living, 
Holy  Dying,  and  many  other  works  —  his  style  distinguished  for  its 
ornateness  and  splendor  of  imagery. 

La  Fontaine  {1621-  1705),  a  French  poet  and  fabulist  —  lived  a  quiet, 
lazy  life  in  patrons'  houses  —  chief  works,  his  Fables. 

Moliere  (1622- 1673),  a  distinguished  French  dramatist  and  writer  of 
very  charming  comedies  —  among  his  many  works,  Le  Bourgeois  Gen- 
tilhomme,  Le  Misanthrope,  and  Tartufe  may  be  named. 

Pascal  (1623- 1662),  an  eminent  French  philosopher  and  scientist- 
early  displayed  great  aptitude  for  mathematics  and  science,  but  went 
into  the  Church  —  wrote  against  the  Jesuits  in  his  Provincial  letters 

—  another  great  but  fragmentary  work  is  his  Penskes. 

Bossuet  (1627- 17C4),  consecrated  Bishop  of  Meaux  in  1681  —  one  of 

the  greatest  pulpit  orators  of  France. 
John  Bunyan  (1628- 1688),  a  tinker  of  Bedford  —  became  a  Baptist 

preacher  —  imprisoned  twelve  years  for  preaching  —  wrote  in  prison 

the  celebrated  Pilgrim's  Progress. 
John  Dryden  (1631-1700),  a  great  English  poet  —  made  poet-laureate 

by  Charles  II. — author  of  numerous  plays  and  satires  in  verse  — 

chief  works,  Absalom  and  Achitophel,  the  most  perfect  and  powerful 

satire  in  our  languai^e.  The  Hind  and  Panther,  Alexander' s  Feast,  etc. 
Boileau  (1636    171 1),  a  noted  French  poet,  remarkable  for  the  moral 

tone  of  his  writings  —  chief  works,  his  Satires  and  Epistles,  and  the 

Lutrin,  a  mock  heroic. 
Racine  (1639-  1699),  the  most  celebrated  of  the  French  dramatists  — 

Andromaqiie  was  his  first  successful  piece,  and  Phidre  and  Iphighiie 

were  the  most  famous  —  his  style  is  founded  on  classic  models. 
Fenelon  (1651-1715),  Archbishop  of  Cambray  —  one  of  the  sect  called 

Quietists  —  denounced  as  a  heretic  by  Bossuet  —  best-known  work,  the 

romance  of  TMemaqws^ 


390  MODERN  HISTORY. 

CHAPTER    IV. 
GREAT  RVENTS  OF   THE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY 


TOPICS 


England  under  the  Georges. 
Prussia  and  Frederick  the  Great. 
Rise  of  Russia. 
The  French  Revolution. 


I.  ENGLAND  UNDER  THE  GEORGES. 

232.  The  history  of  England  has  been  traced  down  to 
The  successor  the  death  of  William  III.,  in  1702.  He  was 
of  William  in.  succeeded  by  his  sister-in-law  Anne,  who  was 
a  daughter  of  James  II.  Her  reign  fills  the  twelve  years 
between  1702  and  17 14,  and  with  it  ends  the  Stuart  line 
of  English  sovereigns. 

233.  The  three  chief  events  of  Anne's  reign  are  :  i.  The 
Three  leading  union  of  Scotland  with  England  ;  2.  The  cam- 
events,  paigns  of  Marlborough ;  3.  The  contests  be- 
tween the  Whigs  and  Tories. 

234.  Though  by  the  accession  of  James  I.  to  the  throne 
Hostility  be-     of  England  the  two  crowns  were  united,  yet 

tween  England    t-.       i         i  i    r>.         i         i  -n 

and  Scotland.  England  and  Scotland  were  still  two  separate 
nations,  with  separate  parliaments.  Indeed,  ever  since  that 
event  a  feeling  of  jealousy  and  dissatisfaction  had  been 
growing  up  in  the  minds  of  the  Scotch  people  with  refer- 
ence to  England.  This  feeling  grew  apace ;  and  finally,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  i8th  century,  it  became  plain  that  a 
separation  of  the  two  countries  was  nigh  at  hand,  unless 
something  was  done  to  allay  the  discontent.  There  was 
even  for  a  time  a  show  of  war  upon  the  part  of  the  Scots. 
But  better  counsels  prevailed. 

235.  Wise  men  on  both  sides  were  commissioned  to  draw 
up  a  Treaty  of  Union,  and  this  in  1707  received  the  sane- 


ENGLAND   UNDER    THE   GEORGES.  39 1 

tion  of  the  Scottish  Parliament.     This  treaty  provided  that 
the  two  kingdoms  should  form  one,  under  the   Treaty  of 
name  of  Great  Britain  ;  and  it  is  believed  that   Un'°n- 
this  measure,  to  a  great  extent,  laid  the  foundation  of  Scot- 
tish prosperity. 

236.  During  a  great  part  of  the  reign  of  Anne  the  War 
of  the  Spanish  Succession,  about  which  we  Mariborougti's 
learned  under  the  account  of  the  Age  of  Louis  campaign. 
XIV.,  went  on.  It  was  in  this  war  that  the  great  captain, 
Marlborough,  humbled  the  power  of  France.  The  contest, 
as  already  seen,  was  brought  to  a  close  by  the  Treaty  of 
Utrecht,  1713- 

237.  Throughout  the  whole  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne 
a  struggle  went  on  between  the  Whigs  and  the  strife  of  whigs 
Tories  for  the  possession  of  the  government.  ^"'^  Tories. 
Anne,  though  at  heart  a  Tory,  was  long  compelled  to  yield 
to  the  guidance  of  her  Whig  ministers.  The  strife  raged 
fiercely  around  two  great  questions,  —  the  War  and  the 
Church.  The  Whigs,  of  whom  Marlborough  was  leader, 
cried  out  for  war  ;  the  Tories  sought  the  restoration  of 
peace.  The  Whigs  were  Low  Church  ;  the  Tories,  High 
Church.  The  Whigs  at  last  were  forced  to  succumb,  a 
Tory  ministry  came  into  power,  and  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht 
was  their  work. 

238.  Anne  died  of  apoplexy  in  the  year  17 14.  She  had 
lost  her  husband  (Prince  George  of  Denmark)  character  of 
six  years  before.  Not  one  of  her  seventeen  Anne, 
children  was  then  living.  She  was  a  woman  of  little  talent 
and  less  learning ;  simple  and  homely  in  all  her  tastes  and 
habits.  The  expression  of  her  face  was  heavy,  —  the  dull 
look  of  one  upon  whom  domestic  bereavements  had  laid  a 
heavy  hand.  She  had,  however,  an  affectionate  disposition, 
and  her  virtues  obtained  for  her  the  title  of  "  Good  Queen 
Anne."  Her  reign  is  noted  as  one  of  the  brilliant  periods 
of  English  literature. 


392 


MODERN  HISTORY. 


239.  Queen  Anne  dying  without  children,  the  Parlia- 
Anne's  sue-  mcnt  chose  as  king,  George,  Elector  of  Hano- 
ccssors.  ygj.^  ^yj-jQ  ^^^  ^  descendant  of  James  I.  in  the 
female  line,  and  the  next  Protestant  heir.  With  him  begins 
the  Guelph  line,  or  House  of  Brunswick.  This  dynasty  still 
continues  to  rule  England ;  *  but  so  far  as  we  are  now  con- 
cerned we  shall  carry  the  narrative  only  down  to  George 
III.,  whose  rule   passes  over  into  the   19th  century. 

240.  George  I.  was  a  German  ;  so  that  England  now  pre- 
Accession  of  scnted  the  curious  spectacle  of  being  ruled  by 
George  I.  ^  king  who  could  not  speak  English.  At  the 
time  of  his  accession  he  was  fifty-four  years  of  age.  His 
person  was  coarse  and  heavy  ;  his  mind  was  uncultivated  ; 
his  tastes  were  low.  His  wife,  Sophia  of  Brunswick,  had 
been  left  in  imprisonment  in  Hanover,  condemned  to  per- 
petual confinement  for  some  alleged  misconduct. 

241.  George  I.,  who  was  a  thorough  German,  thought 
Politics  under  ^^^  more  of  his  Electorate  of  Hanover  than 
George  I.  j^g  ^^jfj  Qf  j^jg  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  ;  and 
this  partiality  became  a  source  of  political  complication. 
He  had  been  called  to  the  throne  by  the  Whigs,  and  it  was 
from  this  party  that  he  chose  all  his  advisers.  The  Tory 
leaders  were  prosecuted  and  impeached.  Great  riots  then 
took  place,  for  the  feeling  of  almost  the  entire  nation  ran 
strongly  in  favor  of  the  Tories ;  and  opposition  to  the  king 
finally  took  shape  in  the  rallying  of  a  considerable  party  to 
the  support  of  the  Fretender. 

*  The  following  list  comprises  the  sovereigns  of  the  House  of  Bruns- 
wick, with  the  dates  of  their  accession  :  — 


George    I.    (great-grandson 

of  James  I.) 1714 

George  II.  (son) 1 727 

George  III.  (grandson) 1760 

Regency    of  the    Prince    of 

Wales 1811 


George  IV.  (son) 1820 

William  IV.  (brother) 1830 

Victoria  (niece) 1837 


ENGLAND   UNDER    THE   GEORGES.  393 


242.  This  person  was  the  son  of  James  II.,  and  called 
himself  James  III.  He  had  pretensions  to  The  Pretender 
the  throne  of  England  and  Scotland,  for,  of  sion. 
course,  he  did  not  acknowledge  the  union  of  the  two  king- 
doms. His  supporters  were  called  "Jacobites,"  from  yaco- 
biis,  the  Latin  name  for  James.  Louis  XIV.  had  promised 
the  Pretender  aid  in  winning  the  British  throne ;  but  just 
then  the  French  king  died,  —  so  that  when  in  17 15  risings 
were  made  both  in  Scotland  and  England  in  the  cause  of 
the  Pretender,  and  he  himself  came  over  from  France  to  join 
in,  he  was  easily  defeated,  and  the  attempt  utterly  failed. 

243.  A  pacific  reign,  like  that  of   George  I.,  furnishes 
few  events   of   importance   in   history.     One,   south  Saa 
however,  of  disastrous  consequence  occurred,   scheme. 

A  Scotchman  named  Law,  who  had  become  controller- 
general  of  France,  and  amused  that  country  with  financial 
schemes  which  at  first  promised  to  enrich,  but  finally  almost 
ruined  the  country,  was  the  means  in  1720  of  inspiring 
the  British  people  with  a  similar  visionary  project,  called 
the  South  Sea  Bubble.  It  seemed  for  a  time  to  prosper, 
and  many  realized  large  fortunes  by  selling  their  shares  at 
a  premium  to  others  ;  but  in  a  short  time  its  unsoundness 
was  discovered,  the  price  of  shares  fell,  and  thousands  were 
utterly  ruined.  With  great  difficulty  the  House  of  Com- 
mons equalized  as  nearly  as  possible  the  state  of  gain  and 
loss  among  the  innocent  parties,  and  credit  was  restored. 

244.  George  II.,  son  of  George  I.,  ascended  the  throne  of 
Great  Britain  in  the  forty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  character  of 
1727.  He  was  a  little,  light-haired,  fair-corn-  George  11. 
plexioned  man.  Having  resided  some  time  in  England,  he 
had  a  partial  knowledge  of  the  English  language,  which, 
however,  he  spoke  with  a  foreign  accent.  He  cared  as 
little  for  science,  art,  or  literature  as  did  his  father,  and  he 
was  more  than  once  heard  to  growl,  in  his  German-English, 
that  he  saw  no  good  in  "  bainting  and  boetry." 

i7» 


394  MODERN  HISTORY. 

245.  During  nearly  half  the  reign  of  George  II.  (i.  e.  till 

1742)  the  office  of  Prime  Minister  was  held  by 
Sir  Robert  Walpole.  He  was  a  man  of  little 
learning,  rough  and  boisterous  in  his  manners  and  in  his  life  ; 
but  he  retained  his  great  power  with  a  passionate  grasp, 
preserving  it,  dishonorably  indeed,  but  with  consummate 
tact.  Bribery  was  the  secret  of  his  long  reign  as  Premier ; 
so  that  he  had  always  at  command  a  majorit}'  of  votes  in 
Parliament. 

246.  During  the  reign  of  George  II.  there  were  four 
Four  wars  of  ^ars  of  considerable  importance  :  i.  The  war 
George  11.  \]\\}ci  Spain  ;  2.  The  war  of  the  Austrian  Succes- 
sion ;  3.  The  war  for  the  Young  Pretender ;  4.  The  Ameri- 
can war  with  France. 

1.  The  war  with  Spain  was  begun  in  1739,  and  was  forced  on  George 
II.  and  Walpole  by  the  general  wish  of  the  people,  who  were  stirred 
up  by  tales  of  wTong  done  to  Englishmen  by  the  Spaniards  in  America 
Little  or  nothing  came  of  this  war. 

2.  The  war  of  the  Austrian  Succession  broke  out  in  1741.  It  was  to 
determine  whether  Maria  Theresa,  daughter  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany, 
Charles  VI.,  should  succeed  to  the  Austrian  throne,  or  whether  it  should 
gfo  to  another  claimant,  Charles,  the  Elector  of  Bavaria.  Though  it  was 
a  quarrel  with  which  in  reality  England  had  nothing  to  do,  yet  George 
II.  espoused  the  cause  of  Maria  Theresa,  while  Prussia  under  Frederick 
the  Great,  and  France  under  Louis  XV.,  took  the  side  of  Charles.  Noth- 
ing came  of  this  war,  as  England  and  France  gave  back  their  conquests  to 
each  other  at  the  end  of  it.     (Treaty  of  A.i.\-la-Chapelle,  1748.) 

3.  In  the  year  1745  Charles  Edward,  the  son  of  the  Old  Pretender, 
tried  with  French  aid  to  gain  the  British  crown  for  his  father.  The  battle 
of  CuUoden  decided  against  him. 

4.  The  war  with  France  had  relation  to  the  colonies  of  the  two  coun- 
tries in  America,  and  is  known  in  United  States  history  as  the  "  French 
and  Indian  War."  It  began  in  175S,  was  continued  into  the  reign  of 
George  III.,  who  began  to  rule  in  1760,  and  was  ended  in  1763  by  the 
Peace  of  Paris.     By  this  treaty  all  Canada  was  surrendered  to  the  British. 

247.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  George  II. 

the  great  figure  in  politics  was  William  Pitt, 
known  as  the  Great  Commoner.     He  was  bon; 


ENGLAND   UNDER    THE   GEORGES.  395 


in  1708;  he  was  educated  at  Oxford,  served  in  the  army, 
then  in  Parliament,  and  finally  giving  himself  up  entirely 
to  politics,  he  won  for  himself  a  leading  place  in  the 
government  of  his  country.  He  directed  all  his  genius 
to  raising  the  glory  of  England  both  in  America  and  in 
India ;  and  it  was  to  his  clear  head  and  admirable  admin- 
istrative faculties  that  Great  Britain  owed  her  formidable 
position  in  the  politics  of  Europe  in  the  middle  of  the  i8th 
century. 

248.  George  III.  in  1760  ascended  a  glorious  throne. 
Through  the  energy  and  foresight  of  the  Great  England  under 
Commoner  Britain  had  become  the  first  nation  George  iii. 

in  the  world.  He  was  the  first  monarch  of  his  House  who 
could  be  regarded  as  English  in  feeling.  His  first  speech 
to  the  Parliament  contained  words  which  showed  that  Eng- 
land had  obtained  at  last  a  native  king.  "  Born  and  edu- 
cated in  this  country,"  said  George,  "  I  glory  in  the  name  of 
Briton." 

249.  George  III.  was  the  best  of  the  Georges,  which, 
however,  is  not  saying  much.  He  was  correct  character  of 
in  his  private  life,  devoted  himself  faithfully  George  in. 
to  the  duties  of  his  station,  and  no  doubt  had  the  good  of 
his  country  at  heart.  But  he  was  a  man  of  narrow  under- 
standing and  obstinate  prejudices,  and  his  very  patriotism 
led  him  into  a  series  of  fatal  blunders.  Long  prone  to 
insanity,  his  mind  quite  gave  way  in  18 10,  though  he  lived 
until  1820. 

250.  This  reign  was  fruitful  in  Colonial  history.  In-^ 
deed,  ere  it  was  five  years  old,  symptoms  of  the  Events  in 
great,  and  to  Britain  disastrous,  American  War  America, 
began  to  appear.  The  trouble  arose  during  the  adminis- 
tration of  Mr.  Grenville,  showing  itself  decisively  on  the 
passage  of  the  Stamp  Act,  1765.  This  was  afterwards  re- 
pealed ;  but  other  taxes  were  imposed  which  finally  precipi- 
tated that  momentous  conflict  which  resulted  in  the  inde- 


396  MODERN  HISTORY. 

pendence  of  our  country  and  the  appearance  of  the  Repub- 
lic of  the  United  States  among  the  powers  of  the  earth. 

251.  It  was  in  this  reign  also  that  the  great  struggle  be- 
Conquest  of  tween  the  French  and  English  for  the  possession 
^°'*'*-  of  India  was  settled  in  favor  of  the  latter.  The 
English  power  in  India  first  made  great  advances  under 
Clive,  and  after  him  the  most  famous  name  in  the  history 
of  British  India  was  that  of  Warren  Hastings.  Not  only 
were  the  French  subdued,  but  the  various  native  princes 
were  conquered  one  after  another,  and  their  provinces  in- 
corporated with  the  British  dominion  ;  so  that  now  England 
rules  over  200,000,000  of  people  in  Hindostan. 

252.  Aside  from  Colonial  history,  the  most  important 

events  with  which  England  had  to  do  during 

Other  events.        ,        ,  r     ,  r,  i  i 

the  latter  part  of  the  i8th  century  were  the 
events  of  the  French  Revolution,  —  that  fearful  maelstrom 
of  war  that  drew  into  its  vortex  all  the  nations  of  Europe. 
The  part  which  England  played  in  this  mighty  epoch  will, 
however,  be  best  related  in  the  special  section  on  the  French 
Revolution.     (See  p.  409.) 

a.    PRUSSIA   AND   FREDERICK  THE   GREAT. 

253.  We  are  now  to  trace  the  rise  of  Prussia,  that  great 
Subject  treated  power  which  in  our  own  times  has  been  able 
^^-  to  bind  together  the  long-dissevered  German 
states  into  the  mighty  German  Empire. 

254*  Ono.  of  the  numerous  states  of  the  German  Empire 
Beginnings  of  during  the  Middle  Ages  was  the  Electorate  of 
Prussia.  Brandenburg.     Lying  alongside  of  this  was  a 

small  territory  known  as  the  Duchy  of  Prussia.*  While 
Elizabeth  sat  on  the  throne  of  England,  the  Electors  of 
Brandenburg  added  this  duchy  to  their  dominions.      By 

*  The  name  Prussia  is  derived  from  the  word  Borussi,  the  naouc  of  i 
fierce  Slavonic  tribe. 


PRUSSIA   AND  FREDERIC!^  THE   GREAT.         397 

good  management  on  the  part  of  its  rulers  Brandenburg 
grew  apace  ;  and  finally,  towards  the  close  of  the  17th  cen- 
tury, the  Elector  Frederick  III.  bargained  to  lend  the  Em- 
peror aid  in  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  provided  he 
obtained  the  crown  of  Prussia.  The  first  year  of  the  i8th 
century  (1701)  marks  the  change  of  the  last  Elector  of 
Brandenburg,  Frederick  III.,  into  the  first  King  of  Prussia, 
Frederick  I. 

255.  The  second  king  of  Prussia  was  Frederick  William, 
(17 13-  1740).  He  was  a  stern  old  tyrant  and  Frederick 
semi-savage,  but  he  was  at  the  same  time  a  W'^'^m- 
rigid  economist ;  and  he  set  himself  to  drilling  and  disciplin- 
ing a  magnificent  army,  which  in  the  hands  of  his  son  was 
to  be  the  instrument  for  raising  Prussia  to  the  position  of 
one  of  the  greatest  military  powers  in  Europe. 

256.  This  son  was  the  famous  Frederick  II.,  or,  as  history 
calls  him,  Frederick  the  Great.    He  was  born  in   Youth  of 

__,.  •iiiri  T-.1-1      Frederick  the 

1 7 12.  By  his  tyrannical  old  father,  Frederick  Great. 
William,  he  had  been  kicked  and  raved  at  and  fed  on  bread 
and  water,  till  he  finally  ran  away,  and  was  with  great  diffi- 
culty saved  from  the  death  of  a  deserter.  This  was  not  a 
promising  training ;  but  there  was  the  true  marrow  in  the 
young  man,  so  he  bided  his  time,  while  in  the  mean  time 
he  played  on  the  flute,  and  scribbled  books,  and  kept  up  a 
correspondence  with  Voltaire  and  otliers  of  the  new  French 
school  of  philosophy. 

257.  In  the  year  1740  rough  old  Frederick  William  died, 
and  his  son  came  to  the  throne  of  Prussia.    He   He  ascends 
had  as  a  boy  had  the  dream  of  being  a  great  ^"^^  throne, 
soldier :  he  was  now  the  possessor  of  a  full  treasury  and  a 
well-drilled  army,  —  so  he  looked  about  for  a  war. 

258.  In  the  very  year  in  which  Frederick  came  to  the 
throne  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  Charles  VI., 

J-     1         TT-       1  1  ^1,      •       r,.y  ,  ,      '  Maria  ThercsB. 

died.     His  daughter  Maria   1  heresa,  by  a  law 

called  a  Pragmatic  Sanction^   became   ruler   over   all    the 


398  MODERN  HISTORY. 

hereditary  dominions  of  Charles,  namely,  the  kingdoms  of 
Hungary  and  Bohemia,  the  Archduchy  of  Austria,  etc. — 
and  she  was  called  by  her  highest  title,  that  of  Queen  of 
Hungary.  The  Empire,  of  course,  was  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Electors.  No  sooner  had  Maria  Theresa  come  to  power, 
than  various  princes  began  to  lay  claim  to  the  whole  or 
part  of  her  dominions. 

259.  Among  others  Frederick  set  up  a  claim  to  part  of 
Frederick's       the  territory  of  the  helpless  princess  ;  to  wit, 

claim  and  r>-i      •  i    •      •  •  <•     i 

conduct.  Silesia,  claiming  it  as  part  of  the  ancient  do- 

minion of  the  House  of  Brandenburg.  It  was  a  mere  pre- 
text, without  show  of  justice  ;  but  Frederick  marched  an 
army  into  Silesia,  won  two  victories  (1741,  1742),  and  Maria 
Theresa,  anxious  to  concentrate  her  energies  against  her 
other  foes,  made  over  Silesia  to  him.  This  is  known  as 
the  First  Silesian  War. 

260.  Hostilities  were  renewed  in  1 744 ;  but  nothing  came 
Second  war,  of  this  Second  Silesian  War,  though  France  and 
and  sequel.  England  Were  both  in  it  on  opposite  sides,  and 
it  was  closed  the  next  year.  Eight  years  of  peace  followed, 
and  this  breathing-space  was  devoted  by  Frederick  to  the 
good  of  Prussia,  which,  under  his  able  administration,  con- 
tinued to  rise  in  importance. 

261.  And  it  needed  all  the  strength  he  could  husband ; 
Nature  of  the    for  in   I7s6  there  broke  out  another  and  far 

Seven  Yesrs' 

War.  greater  contest,  called  the  Seven   Years'   War. 

This  time  Frederick  was  not  to  blame  for  drawing  the  sword; 
for  though,  in  fact,  he  drew  it  first,  the  war  was  strictly  de- 
fensive. Austria  formed  a  secret  treaty  with  France,  and 
another  with  Russia,  Poland,  Saxony,  and  Sweden,  for  the 
partition  of  Prussia.  England,  then  engaged  in  the  great 
Colonial  wars  with  France,  took  sides  with  Prussia  ;  —  and 
so  it  was  that  Frederick,  unaided  save  by  the  half-hearted 
support  of  Great  Britain,  had  to  confront  more  than  half  of 
Europe,  arrayed  in  arms  to  overwhelm  him. 


PRUSSIA   AND  Fl^EDERICK  THE   GREAT.        399 

261.  The  stoiy  of  how  the  Prussian  captain-king  bore 
up  against  this  "  sea  of  troubles  "  that  raged  all  around 
his  country  forms  one  of  the  most  wonderful  xhe  war  and 
chapters  in  military  annals.  Some  of  the  main  '*^  results, 
points  are  stated  in  the  note  below ;  *  but,  leaving  aside  de- 
tails here,  we  may  say  that  after  the  conflict  two  results 
appear :  i.  That  in  Frederick  himself  was  one  of  the  world- 
soldiers,  one  of  the  men  that  make  epochs  in  the  history 
of  war  and  of  nations :  2.  That  in  Prussia  a  new  power  had 
arisen.  In  fact,  henceforth  Prussia  takes  rank  as  one  of  the 
Five  Great  European  Powers,  and  the  Holy  Roman  Empire 
is  practically  divided  into  the  two  great  monarchies  of  Austria 
and  Prussia,  which  till  the  French  Revolution  held  the  balance 
of  power  on  the  Continent. 

*  First  Campaign,  1756.  —  Frederick  assumed  the  aggressive,  know- 
ing that  a  league  had  been  formed  against  him.  At  the  head  of  70,000 
men  he  invaded  Saxony,  tooli  Dresden,  and  defeated  the  Austrians  at 
Lo'wositz.  At  Dresden  Frederick  seized  the  state  papers,  and  found 
therein  the  whole  story  of  the  secret  plot  for  the  partition  of  Prussia : 
these  papers  he  published,  in  order  to  defend  his  action  in  beginning 
hostilities. 

Second  Campaign,  1757.  —  This  campaign,  the  greatest  of  the  seven, 
began  with  the  invasion  of  Bohemia  by  Frederick.  Near  Prague  he 
won  a  great  battle  over  the  Austrians,  but  he  suffered  a  severe  defeat 
at  Kolin.  Then  a  succession  of  terrible  misfortunes  burst  over  the 
head  of  the  Prussian  king,  —  Russians  breaking  through  his  eastern 
frontier,  Swedes  in  Pomerania  marching  on  Berlin,  his  friends  the  Eng- 
lish driven  in  disgrace  from  Hanover  by  the  French,  who  were  rapidly 
advancing  into  Saxony.  It  is  said  that  at  this  time  Frederick  meditated 
suicide,  such  were  the  disasters  that  overwhelmed  him  But  presently 
there  came  a  turn  in  the  tide.  The  Russian  army  of  invasion  was  re- 
called, owing  to  the  illness  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth  ;  Frederick,  taking 
heart  again,  dashed  into  Saxony  with  only  20.000  men,  and  at  Rossbach 
overwhelmed  an  Imperialist  and  French  army  of  three  times  the  force. 
Another  crushing  defeat  to  the  Austrians  took  place  a  month  afterwards 
at  Leuthen,  in  Silesia.  The  immediate  result  of  these  victories  was  the 
recapture  of  Silesia,  which  had  been  overrun  by  the  Austrians,  and  the 
exaltation  of  Frederick  to  the  greatest  fame  London  was  a  blaze  of 
illumination  in  his  honor,  and  the  English  Parliament  voted  him  £,  1(X>fiQQ 
a  year. 


400  MODERN  HISTORY. 


262.  It  is  estimated  that,  counting  the  losses  on  all 
Prussia's  loss-   sides,    a   million   of    men   fell    in    the    Seven 

es  and  resto- 
ration. Years'  War.     Prussia  bore  her  own  sad  share 

in  this  sacrifice,  while  those  who  survived  found  themselves 
in  a  wasted  land.  Frederick  now  set  himself  to  repair  the 
terrible  mischief  done  by  the  war.  He  gave  corn  for  food 
and  seed  to  the  starving  people,  and  rebuilt  the  houses 
that  had  been  burnt.  Silesia  was  freed  from  the  payment 
of  all  taxes  for  six  years,  and  other  districts  received  the 
same  boon  for  a  shorter  time.  Rewards  to  his  living 
soldiers  and  pensions  to  the  widows  and  children  of  the 
dead  were  bestowed  with  liberal  hand.  Measures  were 
taken  for  the  revival  of  commerce  ;  and  though  tnese  meas- 
ures were  not  always  wise  (the  debasement  of  the  coin  by 

Third  AND  Fourth  Campaigns,  1758- 1759.  —  In  the  third  campaign 
the  cause  of  the  Prussian  king  was  on  the  whole  triumphant :  he  still  held 
Sile>ia,  and  the  French  had  been  driven  out  of  Germany.  But  in  the 
fourth  year  of  the  war  blow  after  blow  fell  heavily  on  Frederick.  At 
Kunersdorf,  in  Brandenburg,  he  was  terribly  defeated  by  the  Russians, 
who  had  again  taken  the  field  against  him.  Dresden  was  taken  and 
held  by  the  Austrians,  and  an  army  of  nearly  20,000  Prussians,  hemmed 
in  by  Austrian  bayonets  among  the  passes  of  Bohemia,  was  forced  to 
unconditional  surrender. 

Sixth  Campaign,  1760.  —  Frederick,  desperate,  stood  at  bay,  sur- 
rounded by  a  gigantic  host  of  200,000  men.  One  tremendous  dash  he 
made  at  Torgau,  where  he  won  a  victory  that  saved  the  Prussian  mon- 
archy from  annihilation.  But  he  could  do  no  more  than  watch  his  foes 
firom  a  strong  camp  in  the  heart  of  Silesia.  The  outlook  was  so  dis- 
couraging that  again,  v.-e  are  told,  the  thought  of  suicide  crossed  Fred- 
erick's mind. 

Last  Year,  1762- 1763.  —  A  death  saved  him.  Elizabeth  of  Russia 
died  in  January,  1 762,  and  her  cousin  Peter  III.,  Frederick's  warm  ad- 
mirer and  friend,  not  only  made  peace,  but  sent  him  aid.  The  example 
set  by  Russia  was  followed  by  Sweden.  Then  came  the  Peace  of  Paris 
(1763),  concluded  by  England  and  France,  so  that  Austria  and  Prussia 
fronted  each  other  alone.  However,  these  Powers  also  signed  the 
peace  of  Hubertsburg  (1763),  and  this  ended  the  Seven  Years'  War 
This  treaty  left  the  face  of  Germany  on  the  whole  unchanged,  —  Prussia 
intact  and  still  holding  Silesia. 


PRirsSIA   AND  FREDERICK  THE   GREAT. 


401 


the  king's  order  is  a  notable  instance  of  financial  unwis- 
dom), yet,  on  the  whole,  Prussia  flourished  greatly  under 
Frederick.  The  best  proof  of  this  is,  that,  having  inherited 
a  kingdom  with  a  population  of  two  millions,  and  six  mil- 
lion thalers  in  the  national  treasury,  he  died  leaving  seventy^ 
two  millions  of  thalers,  and  a  contented  and  happy  popula- 
tion of  over  six  millions. 

263.    Frederick  the  Great  died  in  the  year  1786;  and  it 
may  be  noticed  as  an  interesting  fact  that  his   character  of 
last  great  public   act  was  the  conclusion,  in   Frederick. 

that  year,  of  a  commercial 
treaty  with  the  then  infant 
Republic  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  He 
was  in  his  seventy-fifth 
year  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  and  had  reigned 
forty-seven  years.  He  was 
a  great  soldier,  of  daring 
courage  in  battle,  of  quick 
and  fertile  genius  in  diffi- 
culties, of  most  elastic 
spirit  in  the  hour  of  de- 
pression. He  gave  him- 
self little  trouble  respect- 
ing the  justice  of  his  un- 
dertakings ;  but  he  was 
distinguished  from  the 
common  herd  of  conquerors  by  having  one  fixed  object, — 
to  make  his  country  one  of  the  great  powers  of  Europe. 
Carlyle  selects  him  as  a  hero  for  the  characteristic  reason 
that  "he  managed  not  to  be  a  liar  and  a  charlatan,  as  the 
rest  of  his  century  was."  And  certainly,  as  compared  with 
his  royal  contemporaries,  the  Georges  of  England  and  the 
Louises  of  France,  he  challenges  our  admiration  for  his 
consummate  ability,  if  he  cannot  claim  our  love  as  a  man. 


Frederick  the  Great. 


402  MODERN  HISTORY. 


3.     THE   RISE  OF   RUSSIA. 

264.  In  the  history  of  Europe  down  to  the  beginning  of 
Russian  ques-  the  1 8th  century  Russia  is  a  blank.  Why  is 
tion  stated.  t^jg  ?  'phg  s\.oz\i  to  which  the  Russians  be- 
long, the  Slavic  race,  is  inferior  in  capacity  to  no  other 
member  of  the  Aryan  family.  Moreover,  Russia  early 
started  on  the  path  of  civilization.  The  foundation  of  the 
kingdom  was  laid  by  the  Norseman  Ruric  in  the  9th  cen- 
tury, and  in  the  loth  century  the  Russians  were  Christian- 
ized, adopting  the  faith  of  the  Greek  Church. 

265.  The  explanation  of  why  no  progress  was  made  is 
Reason  of  found  in  the  fact  that  Russia  lies  directly  ex- 
wardness.  poscd  to  the  attacks  of  those  fierce  Mongolian 
savages  who,  from  their  hive  in  Central  Asia,  were  wont  to 
pour  themselves  in  devastating  tides  into  Europe.  From 
these  inroads  the  Slavic  land  had  repeatedly  suffered,  when, 
in  the  13th  century,  it  was  completely  overrun  by  the  Tar- 
tars of  Genghis  Khan.  For  more  than  two  centuries  Russia 
was  held  in  bondage  by  these  savages,  while  the  Poles  and 
Lithua'nians  hemmed  her  in  to  the  west,  so  that  she  was 
quite  cut  off  from  any  part  in  European  affairs. 

266.  The  deliverance  of  Russia  from  Tartar  supremacy 
Progress  of  ^^"^'^  due  to  Ivan  Vasilovitz,  who  became  czar, 
Russia.  Qr  emperor,  about  the  same  time  that  Queen 
Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne  of  England.  Russia  was 
now  a  powerful  state,  but  it  was  cut  off  from  the  Baltic  by 
the  Poles  and  Swedes,  and  from  the  Black  Sea  by  the  Tar- 
tars, who  held  the  Crimea.  However,  the  close  of  the  17th 
century  saw  the  appearance  of  a  ruler  who  was  to  give  Rus- 
sia for  the  first  time  a  place  in  the  states-system  of  Europe. 
This  man  was  Peter  the  Great. 

267.  Peter  was  a  son  of  the  czar  Alexis,  called  the  Good 
Peter's  biog-  (1645  -  1 676),  and  the  father  of  this  Alexis  was 
raphy,  ^  certain  Michael  Romanoff,  who  in  1613  was 


THE  RISE   OF  RUSSIA.  403 

made  czar :  from  him  the  present  royal  family  springs  (the 
old  line  of  Ruric  then  ceasing).  Peter  was  born  in  1672, 
and  ten  years  later  was  crowned,  along  with  his  half-brother 
Ivan  ;  but  the  latter,  a  poor  deformed  idiot,  was  only  a 
name  in  the  state.  Having  baffled  the  ambitious  scheme 
of  his  half-sister  Sophia,  a  bold  and  beautiful  woman  who 
acted  as  regent,  the  young  Peter,  when  only  seventeen, 
seized  alone  the  scepter  (1689). 

268.  At  this  time  he  was  a  tall,  rough  youth,  sensual  and 
debauched,  but  showing  at  the  same  time  a  tre-  His  person 
mendous  fund  of  native  energy  and  will.  And,  ^"'^  ^'™^- 
strangely  enough,  this  energy  and  will  seemed  to  aim,  not 
at  what  is  ordinarily  with  such  characters  the  object  of  am- 
bition, namely,  war  and  destruction,  but  at  the  elevation  of 
his  people  by  means  of  those  peaceful  creative  arts  that  are 
the  basis  of  all  national  prosperity.  Wars  he  waged,  indeed, 
but  he  did  not  make  war  for  war's  sake  :  he  made  it  because 
he  was  forced  to  do  so  in  carrying  out  his  pacific  plans. 

269.  The  first  great  idea  that  possessed  Peter  seems  to 
have  been  that  the  absence  of   any  available 

...  r  ^       "'5  Tvc%X.  idea. 

seaboard  was   necessarily  a   source  of  weak- 
ness to  his  country.     Seizing  Azof  from  the  Turks  (1696), 
he  obtained  a  footing  on  the  Black  Sea  ;  and,  having  accom- 
plished this,  he  resolved  to  form  a  fleet  sufficient  to  overawe 
that  power. 

270.  With  this  view  the  young  monarch,  leaving  the  gov- 
ernment in  the  hands  of  an  old  noble,  traveled  His  visit  to 
to  Holland  and  England  for  the  purpose  of  *^^  West, 
learning  the  art  of  ship-building,  and  of  acquiring  whatever 
knowledge  might  be  necessary  for  his  great  undertaking. 
At  Saardam  in  Holland  he  worked  as  a  common  ship-car- 
penter, receiving  his  wages  every  Saturday  night,  and  every 
day  boiling  his  own  pot  for  dinner.  At  the  same  time  he 
picked  up  rope  and  sail  making,  blacksmith's  work  and 
some  surgery,  though  afterwards  his  surgery  was  mostly  of 


404  MODERN  HISTORY. 

a  very  rough  kind.*  In  England,  whither  he  went  in  1698, 
he  was  heartily  received  by  King  William  III.  ;  but,  instead 
of  passing  his  time  in  the  usual  entertainments  of  princes, 
he  busied  himself  visiting  dock-yards  and  looking  into  all 
the  details  of  naval  construction. 

271.  Returning  home  in  the  first  year  of  the  i8th  cen-, 
His  social  tury,  Peter  began  his  social  reforms.  Dressing 
reforms.  himself  in  a  brown  frock-coat,  he  insisted  on  all 
Russians,  except  the  priests  and  the  peasants,  casting  off  the 
long  Asiatic  national  robe.  He  laid  a  tax  on  beards.  He 
changed  the  titles  and  lessened  the  power  of  the  nobility. 
He  tolerated  all  sects,  and  gave  free  circulation  to  the  Bible. 

272.  To  obtain  an  outlet  on  the  Baltic  was  now  Peter's 

object.     The  opportunity  seemed  to  be  excel- 

Peter's  plan.       ,       ,        rr^i  1     r  ,  •        • 

lent.  Ihree  years  before  this,  in  1697,  the 
king  of  Sweden  had  died,  leaving  as  his  successor  a  youth 
but  fifteen  years  of  age.  He  seemed  to  be  helpless  ;  so, 
in  kingly  fashion,  Russia  and  Denmark  and  Poland  entered 
into  a  league  for  the  dismemberment  of  his  kingdom..  But 
this  was  not  to  be  so  easily  done  ;  for  the  youth  was  Charles 
XII.,  that  astonishing  meteor  that  for  a  decade  swept  across 
the  northern  sky. 

273.  Charles  XII.  allowed  his  foes  no  time  to  carry  their 
Campaign  of  plot  into  cxccution.  Moviiig  swiftly,  first  upon 
Charles  XII.  Denmark  and  then  upon  the  Polish  army  at 
Riga,  he  speedily  rid  himself  of  tAvo  of  his  three  enemies. 
Next  he  turned  upon  a  Russian  force  of  80,000  men  that 
Was  besieging  Narva,  a  small  town  near  the  Gulf  of  Livonia, 
and  within  the  Swedish  dominion.  His  own  force  was  only 
a  tenth  that  of  the  Prussians ;  but  with  his  gallant  Swedes 
he  flung  himself  with  such  impetuosit}'  on  the  enemy  that 
he  utterly  overthrew  the  Russian  army,  capturing  most  of  it, 

*  Thus,  on  his  return  to  Russia  he  found  that  his  guards  had  made  2 
rebellion,  which,  however,  had  been  quelled.  With  his  own  hand  he 
beheaded  twenty  of  ths  wretched  guards  in  one  hour. 


THE  RISE   OF  RUSSIA.  405 

with  its  artillery  and  baggage  (November  30,  1700).  Peter 
was  not  at  the  battle.  "  Ah,"  said  he,  when  the  news  came 
to  him,  "  these  Swedes,  I  knew,  would  beat  us,  but  they  will 
soon  teach  us  how  to  beat  them  !  " 

274.  The  same  marvelous  fortune  attended  the  Swedish 
warrior  in  the  operations  of  the  next  four  years  Proposes  to  in- 
in  Poland  and  Saxony.  His  success  quite  in-  ^^*^^  Russia, 
toxicated  him,  and  he  prepared  to  invade  Russia.  Peter 
offered  terms  of  peace,  but  Charles  declared  that  he  could 
negotiate  only  at  Moscow.  When  the  czar  was  informed 
of  this  haughty  answer,  he  coolly  replied,  "  My  brother 
Charles  affects  to  play  the  part  of  Alexander,  but  I  hope  he 
will  not  find  in  me  a  Darius." 

275-  The  strategy  adopted  by  Peter  for  the  purpose  of 
meeting  this  invasion  was  simple  and  sensible,  peter's  strat- 
The  advance  of  the  Swedes  on  the  direct  line  ^^y- 
to  Moscow  was  prevented  by  the  destruction  of  the  roads 
and  the  desolation  of  the  country.  After  enduring  many 
privations  Charles  turned  off  towards  the  U'kraine,  whither 
he  had  been  invited  by  Mazep'pa,  a  Cossack  chief  who  had 
thrown  off  his  allegiance  to  the  czar.  The  convoy  and  re- 
inforcements which  Charles  had  expected  from  Lithuania 
were  intercepted  by  the  Russians ;  but,  notwithstanding 
these  misfortunes,  he  continued  the  campaign  even  in  the 
depth  of  winter,  though  the  season  was  so  severe  that  two\ 
thousand  men  were  at  once  frozen  to  death,  almost  in  his 
presence. 

276.    At  length  Charles  laid  siege  to  Pultowa,  which  con- 
tained one  of  the  czar's  principal  magazines. 

rri,  ,  T  •  1  1      r  ,       1  ,       Pultowa. 

Ihe  town  was  obstmately  defended,  and 
Charles  was  wounded  in  the  heel  while  viewing  the  works. 
Before  he  recovered  he  learned  that  Peter  was  advancing 
to  raise  the  siege.  Leaving  7000  men  to  guard  the  works, 
the  Swedes  advanced  to  intercept  the  Russians,  accom- 
panied by  their  king  borne  in  a  litter.     The  battle  was 


406  MODERN  HISTORY. 

decided  by  the  Russian  artillery,  for  Charles  in  his  rapid 
march  had  abandoned  his  cannon.  In  less  than  two  hours 
the  Swedish  army  was  ruined,  and  Charles,  with  only  300 
followers,  sought  shelter  within  the  frontiers  of  Turkey 
(1709). 

277.  To  pursue  the  subsequent  career  of  Charles  XII. 
ciof  e  of  would  be  aside  from  our  purpose  here.     Suf- 

Chsrles  XII. 's      -  .  ,  ,  .  •    ,  • 

career.  iice  it  to  Say  that  this  astonishing  man  ran  a 

course  of  nine  years  longer,  —  a  course  of  strange  ups  and 
downs,  and  was  finally  killed  by  a  cannon-ball  while  besieg- 
ing the  castle  of  Fredericshall  in  Norway,  17 18. 

"  His  fall  was  destined  to  a  barren  strand, 
A  petty  fortress,  and  a  dubious  hand ; 
He  left  the  name  at  which  the  world  grew  pale 
To  point  a  moral  or  adorn  a  tale."  * 

278.  To  Russia  the  winnings  of  the  struggle  with  Sweden 
Gains  to  Rus-  were  most  important,  for  Peter  gained  Livonia 
^'^-  and  the  other  Swedish  possessions  east  of  the 
Baltic,  so  that  now  he  had  a  water-front  on  that  sea  as  well 
as  on  the  Euxine.  Later  in  his  reign  he  extended  his  bor- 
ders on  the  other  Russian  sea,  the  Caspian,  at  the  expense 
of  Persia. 

279.  In  the  intervals  of  the  war  Peter  the  Great  was  not 
His  pacific  forgetful  of  his  pacific  ambition.  In  1704  he 
measures.  founded  the  city  of  St.  Petersburg,t  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Neva,  on  the  Gulf  of  Finland  (a  region  won 
from  the  Swedes),  and  he  made  it  his  capital  in  place  of  the 
old  metropolis,  Moscow.  In  the  internal  state  of  the  coun- 
try he  made  many  changes :  he  remodeled  his  army,  created 

*  Dr.  Johnson,  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes.  The  fine  passage  begin- 
ning with  "  On  what  foundation,"  etc.,  and  of  which  the  four  lines  above 
quoted  form  the  conclusion,  may  be  read  for  a  summing  up  of  the  whole 
career  of  the  "  Madman  of  the  North." 

+  So  called  after  the  name  of  his  patron  saint  and  name-father,  the 
Apostle  Peter. 


THE  RISE   OF  RUSSIA. 


407 


a  navy,  improved  the  administration  of  justice,  enlarged  the 
commerce,  encouraged  manufactures,  cut  canals,  built  roads, 
and  introduced  the  printing-press.  It  was  the  task  of  a 
giant  to  lift  the  great  savage  land  into  a  position  among 
the  civilized  nations,  but  Peter  did  it. 

280.  This  greatest  of  the  czars  died  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1725,  of  fever  caught  by  vi^ading  knee-   Death  and 
deep  in  Lake  Ladoga,  to  aid  in  getting  off  a  character, 
boat  which  had  stuck  on  the  rocks.     His  character  is  well 

described  by  Voltaire :  "  He  gave  a 
polish  to  his  people,  and  was  him- 
self a  savage  ;  he  taught  them  the 
art  of  war,  of  which  he  was  himself 
ignorant ;  from  the  sight  of  a  small 
boat  on  the  river  Moskwa  he  cre- 
ated a  powerful  fleet ;  he  made  him- 
self an  expert  and  active  shipwright, 
sailor,  pilot,  and  commander ;  he 
changed  the  manners,  customs,  and 

laws  of  the  Russians,  and  lives  in  their  memory  as  the 

•Father  of  his  Country.'" 

281.  The  history  of  Russia  from  the  time  of  Peter  the 
Great  down  to  the  close  of  the  century  may  be   peter's  sue- 
rapidly  sketched.     During  the  greater  part  of  ^^^ssors. 

this  time  the  throne  was  filled  by  women.  There  was  first 
his  widow,  named  Catherine  I.,  who  continued  the  policy 
of  her  great  husband.  Her  reign,  however,  lasted  but  for 
two  years,  when  she  was  succeeded  by  Peter  H.,  the  grand- 
son of  Peter  the  Great.  His  death,  three  years  afterwards, 
brought  to  the  throne  a  niece  of  Peter  the  Great,  named 
Anne,  She  ruled  till  1740.  Then  came  Ivan  VI.,  an  infant, 
who,  after  a  few  months,  was  deposed  by  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Peter  the  Great,  who  filled  the  throne  till  1762.  EHzabeth 
left  her  empire  to  her  nephew,  who  became  Peter  III.  In  a  few 
months,  however,  he  was  murdered,  and  his  wife  was  raised 
to  the  throne  as  Catherine  II.,  surnamed  the  Great  (1762). 


Peter  the  Great. 


4i08  MODERN  HISTORY. 

282.  Catherine  II.  was,  next  to  Peter  the  Great,  the  ablest 
Doings  of  3.nd  most  successful  of  the  Russian  autocrats. 
Catherine.  gy  j^^,^  vigorous  generals,  Potem'kin  and  Su- 
warrow  \soo-dr' nP^,  she  won  greatly  from  the  Turks,  and 
achieved  the  conquest  of  the  Crimea,  thus  getting  rid  of 
the  last  trace  of  the  old  Tartar  dominion,  and  at  the  same 
time  obtaining  free  access  to  the  Black  Sea. 

283.  But  Catherine  II.  won  still  more  by  her  share  in 
Partition  of  what  is  Called  the  Partition  of  Poland,  though 
Poland.  ^j^g  means  by  which  she  won  was  a  gross  vio- 
lation of  the  law  of  nations.  The  scheme  for  dismembering 
the  kingdom  of  Poland  is  supposed  to  have  originated  with 
Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia,  and  he  and  Catherine  of 
Russia  and  the  Empress-Queen  Maria  Theresa,  Queen  of 
Hungary,  entered  into  it.  The  Poles  were  so  weakened 
that  they  could  make  no  resistance,  so  the  royal  robbers 
each  seized  certain  provinces  in  1772. 

284.  In  1792  another  partition  was  made  by  Russia  and 

Prussia  only,  and  in  170";  Poland  was  destroyed 

End  of  Poland.       ,  ,         -"  .     ,  ,  •  i    • 

altogether  as  an  independent  nation,  and  its 
remaining  territory  was  divided  among  its  three  neighbors. 

"Oh  !  bloodiest  picture  in  the  book  of  time  ! 
Sarmatia  fell,  unwept,  without  a  crime." 

Wicked  as  was  this  assassination  of  a  nation,  the  accession 
of  territory  to  Russia  was  of  immense  importance  to  the 
empire,  and  "  brought  that  nation  into  the  middle  of  the 
continent  and  into  the  thick  of  European  affairs." 

285.  Catherine  II.  died  in  1796.  She  was  succeeded  by 
Catherine's  her  son  Paul ;  but  he  was  an  eccentric,  half- 
successors,  crazy  creature,  and  when  he  was  murdered,  in 
1 80 1,  his  son  Alexander  I.  came  to  the  throne.  This  Alex- 
ander I.  was  the  uncle  of  Alexander  II.,  murdered  by  Nihilists 
in  1 88 1,  who  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Alexander  III.,  ?,s 
Emperor  and  Autocrat  of  all  the  Russias. 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION. 


409 


MiRABBAU. 


Robespierre. 


4.     THE   FRENCH    REVOLUTION. 

286.  "  After  me  the  deluge  "  {Apres  moi  le  deluge),  sighed 
Louis  XV.  to  his  courtiers  as  he  lay  on  his  Remark  of 
death-bed  in  the  year  1774,  which  was  the  very  ^ouis  xv. 
year  of  the  meeting  of  our  "  First  Continental  Congress." 
The  deluge  came,  —  that  dreadful  deluge  of  fire  and  blood 
known  in  history  as  the  French  Revolution.  We  are 
now  to  learn  about  the  causes,  the  leading  facts,  and  the 
results  of  this  tremendous  explosion. 

287.  The  student  will  remember  that  the  close  of  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIV.  (1715)  saw  France  in  an  France  and 
exhausted  and  a  demoralized  condition.  Un-  Louis  xv. 
der  his  successor,  Louis  XV.  (1715  — 1774),  things  went 
from  bad  to  worse.  The  court,  ruled  by  the  painted  favor- 
ites of  the  licentious  king,  Pompadour  and  Du  Barri,  ex- 
hausted every  shape  of  costly  debauchery.  The  last  sou  of 
taxation  was  wrung  from  the  starving  peasants.  And,  to 
add  to  the  awful  burden,  a  continued  series  of  wars  was  car- 
ried on  for  the  gratification  of  a  profligate  ambition,  and 
sometimes  apparently  for  no  better  reason  than  to  afford 


\ 


410  MODERN  HISTORY. 

employment  to  a  numerous  body  of  idle  nobility,  who  dis- 
dained to  follow  any  other  profession  than  that  of  arms. 

288.  Louis  XV.  died  in  1774,  leaving  his  throne,  with  all 
Accession  of  its  embarrassments,  to  his  grandson  Louis 
Louis  XVI.  XVI.,  a  kind-hearted,  amiable,  pious  young 
man,  but  utterly  destitute  of  the  mental  qualities  calculated 
to  fit  him  for  the  arduous  position  he  was  called  upon  to  oc- 
cupy. Then  twenty  years  of  age,  he  had  been  already  four 
years  married  to  Marie  Antoinette,  the  beautiful  daughter 
of  Maria  Theresa.  Surrounded  by  eager  courtiers,  and  sa- 
luted for  the  first  time  as  king  and  queen,  they  fell  upon 
their  knees  and  cried,  weeping,  "  O  God,  guide  us !  Pro- 
tect us  !     We  are  too  young  to  reign  !  " 

289.  And  they  w-ere  indeed  too  young  and  too  inexperi- 
Bad  condition  GHced  to  deal  with  a  problem  whose  solution 
of  France.  would  have  demanded  the  supreme  genius  and 
iron  will  of  a  Cromwell  or  a  Napoleon.  For  already  signs 
of  dissolution  and  prophecies  of  woe  were  abroad.  France 
had  been  sowing  the  wind,  and  was  now  to  reap  the  whirl- 
wind. Long  wars  and  the  lavish  expenditures  of  the  last 
century  and  a  half  had  reduced  the  finances  of  the  king- 
dom to  a  deplorable  condition.  The  public  credit  was  at 
its  lowest  ebb.  The  treasury  presented  a  deficit  of  two 
hundred  millions  of  dollars.  The  people  were  overtaxed, 
restless,  and  half  savage.  Many  abandoned  agriculture 
and  sought  a  precarious  subsistence  by  smuggling  and  spo- 
liation. 

290.  A  spirit  of  political  and  religious  infidelity  per- 
Purther  de-  vaded  the  middle  and  lower  classes.  The 
*^''^-  throne  had  been  too  long  degraded  by  excess 
and  tarnished  by  scandal  to  command  the  affection  of  the 
multitude.  The  nobles  were  scorned  rather  than  rever- 
enced, and  not  even  the  ancient  stronghold  of  terror  re- 
mained. The  clergy,  by  their  cruelties,  their  ignorance,  ind 
their  debaucheries,  had  alienated  the  great  body  of  the  pec- 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  4II 

pie,  and  brought  down  upon  themselves  the  satire  and  in- 
dignation of  the  enlightened.  In  Voltaire  \j'ol-iare'\  Rous- 
seau \roo-so'\  Helvetius,  and  Condillac  \con-de-ydIf\  the  new 
opinions  had  found  their  chief  advocates  and  leaders. 
Before  their  sweeping  censures  so-called  Christianity,  Loy« 
alty,  Tradition,  had  been  reduced  to  powder.  They  were 
speedily  reinforced  by  all  the  intelligence  of  the  age.  A 
host  of  distinguished  men  hastened  to  their  support,  and 
the  innovators  carried  all  before  them,  —  leveling  good  as 
well  as  evil,  and  sapping  the  foundations  of  truth,  mercy, 
and  chivalry,  while  compassing  the  necessary  destruction  of 
falsehood,  despotism,  imposition,  and  vice. 

291.  The  grand  problem  was  the  finances.  The  first 
financial  minister  of  the  reign  was  Turgot  \tur-  Financial 
go'\  an  able  man  of  extensive  views,  who  pro-  "measures, 
posed  gradually  to  sweep  away  the  abuses  which  weighed 
so  heavily  upon  the  kingdom  ;  but  his  reforms  alarmed  the 
courtiers  :  they  persuaded  the  king  that  such  experiments 
were  dangerous,  and  Louis,  always  obedient  to  the  last 
adviser,  dismissed  Turgot  in  1776.  Two  new  ministers  soon 
gave  way  to  Necker,  a  Geneva  banker  of  good  reputation 
and  the  best  intentions.  His  maxims  were  the  reduction 
of  expenditure,  so  as  to  avoid  all  necessity  of  loans,  except 
on  extraordinary  occasions,  and  the  maintenance  of  public 
credit,  so  that  money  might  be  borrowed  when  requisite. 
This  clever  banker  held  his  office  for  five  years,  and  in 
1 78 1  was  able  to  produce  a  balance-sheet  which  showed 
a  revenue  larger  than  the  expenditure.  But  his  accounts 
angered  the  nobility  by  revealing  that  they  paid  no  taxes  : 
so  Necker  was  harassed  into  a  resignation. 

292.  It  was  during  the  administration  of  Necker  that 
France  became  embroiled  in  a  war  with  Eng-  Effect  of  the 
land,  caused  by  the  former  country's  siding  with  American  war. 
the  Americans  in  the  struggle  for  independence.     To  have 
aided  in  founding  a  great  democracy  across  the  Atlantic 


\ 

412  MODERN  HISTORY. 


was  a  subject  of  pride  to  the  French  ;  but  the  sight  of  their 
handiwork  reminded  them  painfully  of  the  position  still 
occupied  by  themselves.  Democratic  doctrines  from  Amer- 
ica found  their  way  into  the  dull  head  of  the  French  peas- 
ant, who  could  not  help  realizing  the  injustice  that  gave 
two  thirds  of  the  soil  to  the  nobility  (who  numbered  only 
about  150,000  souls)  and  to  the  priests,  both  of  which 
orders  were  exempt  from  taxes,  while  he  and  his  twenty-five 
millions  of  brother  serfs,  owning  but  one  third  of  the  land, 
had  to  bear  all  the  burdens  of  the  state. 

293.  The  war  with  England  only  added  to  these  bur- 
Administra-  dens,  while  the  finances,  no  longer  in  the 
tionofCaionne.  skilled  and  prudent  hands  of  Necker,  werd 
managed  by  a  brilliant  financial  juggler  named  Calonne 
S^cal-on'\  who  borrowed  on  every  side  without  one  thought  of 
repayment.  For  a  time  this  went  on  ;  but  the  day  came 
when  even  Calonne  could  get  no  more.  It  was  necessary 
to  devise  some  new  expedient,  and  the  one  adopted  was 
the  assembling  of  the  Notables. 

294.  The  Assembly  of  the  Notables  is  the  name  given 
Meeting  of  the  to  a  Convention  of  the  chief  nobles  and  magis' 
Notables.  trates  of  France  called  to  consult  on  public 
affairs.  Such  a  meeting  had  in  the  previous  centuries  beei> 
occasionally  called  by  the  kings  in  emergencies,  and  much 
was  now  hoped  from  it  by  the  nation.  It  met  in  February, 
1787:  there  were  137  members.  Calonne  wanted  to  make 
up  for  the  deficiency  of  revenue  by  a  land-tax ;  but  his  pro- 
posal was  rejected  by  these  lords  of  the  soil,  and  the  As- 
sembly was  dissolved  in  May.  Then  came  the  dismissal  of 
Calonne,  who  was  soon  succeeded  by  Brienne,  Archbishop  of 
Toulon.  But  Brienne  could  do  nothing  to  stem  the  rising 
tide,  so  Necker  was  recalled  in  1 788. 

295.  Necker,  as  his  first  act,  proposed  to  convoke  a 
States- General,  an  assembly  having  the  rights  of  confer- 
ring   and   petitioning.      There   had   been  no   meeting   of 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  413 

such  a  body  since  the  days  of  Richelieu,  the  last  being 
in  1 6 14.  Since  that  time  the  existence  of  Neckersprop- 
a  constitution  had  been  almost  forgotten,  for  °s'tion. 
the  three  kings  that  intervened  had  caused  a  virtual  suspen- 
sion of  every  power  except  their  own.  But  the  convocation 
of  a  States-General,  where,  as  in  an  English  Parliament, 
every  class  of  society  had  a  voice,  was  hailed  as  an  ac- 
knowledgment that  power  proceeded  from  the  people. 

296.  All  over  France  the  elections  went  on,  and  no  man 
who  wore  a  decent  coat  was  refused  leave  to 

,      ,  ,  The  elections. 

vote.  Three  millions  of  the  people  sent  up 
their  deputies  —  lawyers,  doctors,  priests,  farmers,  writers 
for  the  press  —  to  the  great  States-General,  in  which  for  the 
first  time  during  nearly  two  centuries  the  down-trodden 
Commons  were  to  sit  in  council  with  the  nobles  and  the 
high  clergy.  There  were  1200  representatives,  and  they  met 
in  the  king's  palace  at  Versailles  \ver-sdlz'\  on  the  5th  of 
May,  1789. 

297.  It  soon  became  evident  that  the  real  strength  of  the 
States-General  lay  in  the  Commons,  or,  as  the  The  Commons 

_  ;  ,        m  W        r         •     I    assert  them- 

French  named  them,  the  Tiers  Etat  \te-airz  selves. 
a-td'\  i.  e.  the  Third  Estate.*  They  numbered  as  many  mem- 
bers as  the  noblesse  and  the  clergy  together.  At  the  very 
outset  came  the  trial  of  strength.  It  had  not  been  decided 
whether  the  nobility,  the  clergy,  and  the  Tiers  Etat  should 
meet  in  one  chamber,  or  be  organized  into  two :  it  had  been 
assumed  that  the  latter  would  be  the  plan.  But  the  depu- 
ties of  the  Tiers  Etat  would  not  submit  to  be  separated 
from  the  Upper  House.  Sitting  in  their  own  chamber,  they 
invited  the  nobles  and  the  clergy  to  join  them  ;  and  when 
the  invitation  was  scornfully  rejected,  they  constituted 
themselves  the  National  Assembly.,  by  which  name  we. 
shall  now  have  to  call  the  body. 

*  The  Clergy  and  the  Nobility  constituting  the  First  and  the  Second 
Estates. 


414  MODERN  HISTORY. 

298.  In  vain  did  dukes  and  archbishops  complain  of  this 
King  and  Unexampled  usurpation  of  supreme  power. 
Commons.  'pj^g  j^jj^g  ^^^^  undecided  and  alarmed,  and  in 
this  condition  he  took  a  suicidal  step.  He  prorogued  the 
Assembly  for  a  month,  and  stationed  soldiers  at  the  door 
to  prevent  the  members  from  going  in.  Their  president 
Bailly,  when  crossed  bayonets  refused  them  admittance, 
led  them  to  the  Tennis-court  {yeu  de  paume)  of  the  palace, 
where  they  swore  a  solemn  oath  not  to  dissolve  their  Assem- 
bly until  they  had  formed  a  constitution  for  France.  The 
firmness  of  the  Tiers  Etat  gave  them  the  victory.  A  large 
secession  took  place  from  the  other  orders,  —  most  of  the 
clergy  and  forty-seven  of  the  noblesse,  with  the  Duke  of  Or- 
leans at  their  head,  joining  the  Commons  in  their  hall. 

299.  There  was  Lafayette,  a  pure  patriot,  but  not  a  man 
Three  charac-  of  Commanding  ability.  And  there  sat  Mira- 
*^''^-  beau  \mer-d-bof\  the  wickedest  and  most  de- 
bauched aristocrat  in  France,  but  a  man  of  pre-eminent 
power  and  eloquence.  Different  from  him,  and  near  him,  was 
the  small  person  and  commonplace  countenance  of  Robes- 
pierre \robz-pe-air'\  —  grinning,  smirking,  and  contemptible, 
—  but  who  ere  many  months  were  over  was  to  thrill  with 
terror  the  stoutest  hearts. 

300.  The  Court,  thus  foiled  and  acknowledging  its  own 
Action  of  the  humiliation,  adopted  again  an  unpopular 
Assembly.  coursc  :  Neckcr  was  banished,  and  troops  were 
gathered  around  Versailles.  But  the  Assembly  proceeded 
with  their  business  in  the  most  radical  fashion.  They  abol 
ished  all  privileges  of  birth  or  profession ;  taxes  were  imposed 
on  all  equally ;  the  public  debt  was  consolidated,  the  press 
was  declared  free,  and  political  and  religious  liberty  was 
guaranteed.     These  were  great  steps  in  advance. 

301.  Meanwhile  all  Paris  was  in  a  state  of  insane  com- 
Madness  of  motion.  Clubs,  meetings,  associations  of  all 
Pans,  kinds,  kept  every  quarter  of  the  great  city  astir. 


J  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  415 

Enthusiasm  grew  with  every  fresh  event,  and  already  the 
thirst  for  blood,  which  so  strongly  distinguishes  the  Pari- 
sian mob,  began  to  fire  the  hearts  of  the  rabble.  A  single 
spark  exploded  the  mine.  There  came  a  report  that  the 
soldiers  were  on  the  march  to  dissolve  the  National  Assembly. 
The  people  rushed  to  the  defence,  guns  were  procured,  and 
tricolored  flags  hoisted  on  public  buildings.  Rioting  and 
pillage  went  on  in  various  quarters,  and  the  more  so  that  the 
guards,  when  called  out  to  disperse  the  mob,  refused  to  fire. 
Finally  on  the  14th  of  July  a  definite  aim  was  given  to  the 
wild  intoxication  of  the  people  by  a  cry  which  suddenly 
went  through  Paris,  "  Let  us  storm  the  Bastile  !  " 

302.  This  ancient  and  fortified  prison  was  at  the  time 
defended  by  a  feeble  garrison  of  eighty-two  capture  of 
invalids  and  thirty-two  Swiss,  under  a  stanch  *^^  Bastiie. 
old  soldier,  the  Marquis  de  Launay,  The  wild  multitude 
raged  around  its  walls,  but  the  governor  utterly  refused  to 
surrender.  Then  a  siege  of  four  hours  began.  The  be- 
siegers were  joined  by  the  French  guards,  —  cannon  were 
brought,  —  De  Launay  capitulated,  —  the  drawbridge  was 
lowered,  and  the  Bastile  taken :  taken  by  a  lawless  mob  of 
maddened  men  and  women,  who  forthwith  massacred  the 
governor,  his  lieutenant,  and  some  of  the  aged  invalids,  — 
freed  the  few  prisoners  found  in  the  cells,  —  set  fire  to  the 
building  and  razed  it  to  the  ground,  —  garnished  their  pikes 
with  the  evidence  of  murder,  and  so  paraded  Paris. 

303.  From  this  moment  the  people  were  supreme.     The 
troops  were  dismissed  from  Versailles,  Necker 

,,,,,.  .    .       ,    _      .  ,  The  sequel. 

was  recalled,  the  kmg  visited  Pans,  and  was 
invested  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  with  the  tricolored  emblem  of 
democracy.  Then  began  what  is  called  the  first  efnigraiion, 
—  that  is,  a  general  and  most  cowardly,  as  well  as  most 
imprudent,  flight  of  the  nobles,  who  from  beyond  the  fron- 
tiers witnessed  the  revolution  in  ignoble  safety.  The  king 
and  his  family  remained   at  Versailles,  sad  at  heart  amid 


4l6  MODERN  HISTORY. 

their   presence-chambers  and   garden-groves,  four   leagues 
from  volcanic  Paris. 

304.  Hither,  from  time  to  time  during  the  few  days  that 
Provincial  ris-  intervened  between  the  14th  of  July  and  the 
'"^^"  4th  of  August,  came  strange  tidings  of  a  revo- 
lution which  was  no  longer  Parisian,  but  national,  —  tidings 
of  provincial  uprisings,  of  burning  chateaux,  of  sudden  ven- 
geance done  upon  unpopular  officials,  tax-gatherers,  and 
the  like.  It  was  plain  that  the  Nobility  must  bow  its  head 
before  the  five-and-twenty  savage  millions,  make  restitution, 
speak  well,  smile  fairly,  or  die. 

305.  The  memorable  4th  of  August  came,  when  the  no- 
Sweeping  re-  blcs  did  this,  making  ample  confession  of  their 
forms.  weakness.  The  Viscount  de  Noailles  [w^'-o/] 
proposed  to  reform  the  taxation  by  subjecting  to  it  every 
order  and  rank,  by  regulating  it  according  to  the  fortune 
of  the  individual,  and  by  abolishing  personal  servitude  and 
every  remaining  vestige  of  the  feudal  system.  An  enthusi- 
asm, which  was  half  fear  and  half  reckless  excitement, 
spread  throughout  the  Assembly.  The  aristocrats  rose  in 
their  places  and  publicly  renounced  their  seignorial  dues, 
privileges,  and  immunities.  The  clergy  abolished  tithes 
and  tributes.  Yet  all  this  availed  but  little  now :  it  should 
have  been  done  many  months  before,  to  have  weighed  with 
the  impatient  Commons.  The  people  scorned  a  generosity 
that  relinquished  only  what  was  untenable,  and  cared  little 
for  the  recognition  of  a  political  equality  that  had  already 
been  established  by  the  pike. 

306.  And  now  another  false  step  was  made  by  the  king. 
Another  false  The  popular  demonstrations  had  so  alarmed 
^*^P-  the  little  court  yet  hanging  around  Louis  at 
Versailles,  that  they  persuaded  him  that  he  must  have  mili- 
tary assistance.  The  regiment  of  Flanders  and  a  body  of 
dragoons  came;  and  on  the  ist  of  October  the  newly 
arrived  officers  were  invited  to  a  grand  banquet  by  their 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  417 


comrades  of  the  royal  body-guard.  After  the  dinner  was 
removed  and  the  wine  had  begun  to  circulate,  the  queen 
presented  herself  with  the  Dauphin  in  her  arms,  and  her 
husband  at  her  side.  Cries  of  loyalty  and  enthusiasm 
burst  forth,  their  healths  were  drunk  with  drawn  swords, 
the  tricolored  cockades  were  trampled  under  foot,  and 
white  ones,  emblematic  of  the  house  of  Bourbon,  were  dis- 
tributed by  the  maids  of  honor. 

307.  The  news  of  this  fatal  evening  flew  to  Paris.  Ex- 
asperated by  the  arrival  of  the  soldiery,  by  the  The  mob  goes 
insults  offered  to  the  tricolor,  and  by  hunger,  *°  Versailles, 
the  mob  rose  in  fury,  and  with  cries  of  "  Bread  !  bread !  " 
poured  out  of  Paris  and  took  the  road  to  Versailles.  A 
strange,  fearful  mob  it  was,  —  thousands  of  women  of  the 
wildest  appearance,  maddened  furies,  followed  by  thousands 
of  haggard,  cruel,  revengeful  men.  Reaching  Versailles 
they  sent  messages,  threats,  and  deputations  to  the  king 
and  to  the  Assembly.  They  had  their  smooth  speeches 
from  the  king  and  their  fair  assurances  from  the  Assem- 
bly ;  but  they  still  lingered  about  Versailles,  and  though  a 
great  rain  came  on  they  camped  for  the  night  around  the 
palace. 

308.  Towards  morning  a  grating  that  led  into  the  grand 
court  was  found  to  be  unfastened,  and  the  mob  Attack  on  the 
rushed  in.  On  they  went  across  the  marble  P^'a^^^- 
court  and  up  the  grand  staircase.  The  body-guards  de- 
fended themselves  valiantly,  and  raised  the  alarm ;  the 
queen  fled,  half  dressed,  to  the  king's  chamber,  while  the 
"  living  deluge  "  poured  through  galleries  and  reception- 
rooms,  making  straight  for  the  queen's  apartments.  The 
royal  family  listened  tremblingly  to  the  battering  of  the  axes 
on  the  yet  unbroken  doors.  At  this  moment  of  peril  came 
Lafayette,  with  the  national  guard  of  Paris,  and  succeeded 
in  clearing  the  palace,  and  in  rescuing  for  the  time  the  hap- 
less group  in  the  king's  apartments. 

i8«  «4 


\ 


418  MODERN  HISTORY. 


309.  The  crowd  demanded  that  the  king  should  come 
Return  to  to  Paris ;  and  amidst  a  procession  of  market- 
f"^"^-  women,  at  a  foot  pace,  with  human  heads 
borne  aloft  on  pikes  before  the  carriage,  the  unhappy  Louis 
and  Marie  Antoinette  were  conducted  to  the  capital  (so- 
called  Joyous  Entry,  October  6,  1789),  and  placed  more 
immediately  under  the  eyes  of  the  revolutionists. 

310.  During  all  this  tiine  the  emigration  of  the  noblesse 
Conduct  of  the  Went  on.  Assembling  upon  the  German  fron- 
emigrants.  ^-jgj.  towards  the  Spring  of  the  year  1791,  they 
formed  themselves  into  an  army  under  the  command  of 
the  Prince  de  Conde',  and  adopted  for  their  motto,  "  Con- 
quer or  die  " ;  yet  they  neither  conquered  nor  died,  but 
merely  hovered  along  the  Rhine,  fearful  of  endangering  the 
personal  safety  of  the  king  by  any  aggressive  measures. 

311.  The  king's  position  was  by  this  time  not  only  hu- 
The  king's  miliating,  but  perilous.  Such  had  been  the  de- 
*'*£*'*•  sertions,  that  now  Louis  and  the  queen,  with 
their  two  children  and  the  king's  sister,  were  the  only  mem- 
bers of  the  royal  family  left  in  Paris.  Flight  had  long  been 
talked  of,  frequently  delayed  ;  but  at  last  everything  was 
arranged  for,  and  Monday  night,  June  20,  1791,  was  fixed 
for  the  attempt.  Eluding  the  vigilance  of  the  guards,  they 
stole  out  of  the  palace  in  disguise,  and  entered  a  carriage- 
and-four  at  the  gate  St.  Martin. 

312.  The   flight  was    successfully  made  as  far   as  Va- 

rennes  ;  but  there,  while  stopping  to  change 
horses,  the  king  was  recognized.  The  na- 
tional guard  flew  to  arms  ;  an  aide-de-camp  came  up  in 
breathless  haste,  seeking  the  fugitives  and  bearing  the  de- 
cree of  arrest,  —  the  horses'  heads  were  turned  towards 
Paris,  and  the  last  chance  for  life  and  liberty  was  past. 
After  a  return-journey  of  eight  days  the  king  and  his  family 
re-entered  the  capital,  and  were  received  in  profound  silence 
by  an   immense  concourse.     More  closely  guarded,  more 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  4I9 

mistrusted  than  ever,  he  was  now  suspended  by  the  Na- 
tional Assembly  from  those  sovereign  functions  which  he 
had  so  long  ceased  to  exercise  or  possess. 

313.  In  the  mean  time  the  articles  of  a  new  constitution 
had  been  drawn  up,   putting  France  on   the   xhe  new  con- 
basis  of  a  constitutional  monarchy.     Its  arti-  ^titution. 
cles  were  publicly  ratified  by  the  royal  oath  and  signature, 
on  the  14th  of  September,  1791. 

314.  The  National  (or,   as  it  is  sometimes  called,  the 
Constituenf)    Assembly    having    sat   for    three   The  new  as- 
years,  now  passed  a  resolution  dissolving  it-  ^embiy. 

self  (September  29,  1791).  Its  place  was  taken  by  a  new 
body,  called  the  Legislative  Assembly^  which  began  to  sit  on 
the  I  St  of  October  in  the  same  year. 

3I5>  By  this  time  three  distinct  factions  were  clearly 
marked  out,  and  between  them  there  was  to  The  three  fac- 
be  battle  to  the  death.  First  were  the  Feuil-  "°"^- 
lants^  who  adhered  to  the  law  and  the  constitution  ;  they 
formed  the  ghost  of  the  vanished  National  Assembly,  which 
had  established  a  constitutional  monarchy,  and  they  sat  on 
the  right  of  the  tribune.  The  Girondists,  or  Moderate  Re- 
publicans, formed  the  second  party.  Mirabeau  would  have 
been  their  leader,  and  might  have  wielded  their  influence  to 
some  effect  ;  but  that  great  man  had  died  a  few  months 
before  this  time.  Occupying  the  highest  seats  in  the  hall, 
and  therefore  called  the  Mountain,  sat  the  Red  Repub- 
licans, chiefly  members  of  the  Jacobin  and  Cordeliers 
Clubs  ;  whose  rallying  cry  was,  "  No  king  ! "  The  list  of 
this  third  party  contained  those  terrible  names  —  Robes- 
pierre, Danton,  Marat  [md-ra]  —  the  very  sound  of  which 
suggests  the  thought  of  blood. 

316.    The  spirit  of  revolution  which  had  set  France  in  a 
blaze  menaced  every  throne,  and  it  behooved   l°J^'f^^^1^^' 
the  kings  of  Europe  to  see  to  their  own  safety,   effect. 
Armies  were  raised  by  Austria  and  Prussia  to  defend  the 


420  MODERN  HISTORY. 

royal  cause,  hostilities  were  threatened,  and  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly  declared  for  war,  April  20,  1792.  Soon 
afterwards  a  force  of  70,000  Prussians  and  68,000  Austri- 
ans  and  emigrant  French  royalists  crossed  the  frontier. 
Perhaps  no  effort  on  the  part  of  his  most  eager  enemy 
could  have  so  injured  the  cause  and  periled  the  safety  of 
Louis  XVI.  The  Assembly  replied  by  fitting  out  an  army 
of  20,000  national  volunteers,  and  giving  the  command  to 
General  Dumouriez  \du-moor-yea'\  who  in  several  actions 
repelled  the  invaders. 

317.  In  the  mean  time,  enraged  at  this  interference  of 
Feeling  to-  ^he  foreign  powers,  and  fluctuating  (accord- 
wards  Louis,  jjjg  |.Q  ^jjg  reports  from  the  scene  of  war)  be- 
tween apprehension  and  exultation,  the  Parisian  mob  and 
the  extreme  Republican  party  came  to  regard  the  king  with 
increased  enmity.  He  was  named  in  the  Assembly  with 
violent  opprobrium ;  and  the  mob,  incited  to  fury  by  Robes- 
pierre and  his  associates,  demanded  the  deposition  of 
Louis. 

318.  On  the  loth  of  August  the  palace  of  the  Tuileries 
Attack  on  the  \t^i'ecl-ree^z''\  was  attacked.  The  national  guards, 
Tuileries.  ^j^q  \^^^  been  appointed  to  the  defense  of  the 
court-yard,  went  over  to  the  insurgents,  and  pointed  their 
cannon  against  the  chateau.  Only  300  Swiss  guards  were 
left ;  and  they,  overpowered  by  numbers  and  fighting  gallant- 
ly to  the  last,  were  literally  cut  to  pieces.  The  king  and 
his  family  escaped  to  the  Legislative  Assembly,  and  on  the 
14th  were  removed  to  the  old  Temple  prison. 

319.  From  this  time  that  awful  period  known  in  his- 

tory as  the  Reign  of  Terror  may  properly  be 
eigno  ^"o""- g^j^  |-Q  j^^^,g  begun.  "  My  advice,"  said  Dan- 
ton,  "  is  to  confound  the  agitators,  and  to  stop  the  enemy 
by  striking  terror  into  the  royalists."  This  advice  produced 
the  imprisonment  of  hundreds  of  persons  considered  not 
sufficiently  zealous  in  the  revolutionary  cause.     A  tempO' 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  421 

rary  success  won  by  the  Prussians  in  the  capture  of  Verdun 
was  the  death-doom  of  the  unfortunate  prisoners.  The 
news  was  brought  in  the  night,  and  next  day  (September  2, 
1792)  the  prisons  were  cleared  by  the  death  of  the  captives. 
Three  days  did  the  horrible  scene  of  bloodshed  continue, 
and  the  victims  displayed  the  most  touching  traits  of  resig- 
nation and  heroism.  This  wholesale  massacre  is  known  as 
the  Massacre  of  September. 

320.  On  the  2ist  of  September,   1792,  the   Legislative 
Assembly,  having  sat  for  the  allotted  space  of  The  new  gov- 
one  year,  was  succeeded  by  a  new  body  of  emment. 
representatives,  known  by  the  name  of  the  National  Conven- 
tion. 

321.  The  constitutional  party  of  the  old  Legislative  As- 
sembly (the  Feuillafits)  had  disappeared  in  the   The  parties 

1  f    ,       T^  1      •  11^  and  their  lead- 

maelstrom  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  Conven-  crs. 
tion  was  divided  between  the  Girondists  and  the  Mountain. 
In  the  Chamber  the  Girondists  had  the  majority  ;  but  the 
Mountain,  led  by  Danton,  Robespierre,  and  Marat,  had  the 
great  revolutionary  advantage  of  being  on  the  aggressive ; 
and  they  had,  besides,  the  support  of  all  the  sans-culottes,  or 
rabble  of  Paris.  Their  policy  was  simple  and  well  defined, 
—  the  death  of  the  king,  and  the  establishment  of  a  Re- 
public. 

322.  To  proclaim  the  Republic  was  the  first  act  of  the 
Convention.     Then  came  the  trial  of  the  king.   Trial  of  the 
On  the  nth  of  December,  1792,  Louis  XVI.,    '''"s- 

who  had  been  for  months  a  prisoner  in  the  Temple,  ap- 
peared before  the  tribunal  of  his  enemies.  The  charges 
brought  against  him  were  based  principally  upon  some 
papers  that  disclosed  the  intrigues  of  the  Court  against  the 
Revolution,  and  on  others  that  seemed  to  indicate  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  proceedings  in  favor  of  the  royal  cause  in  for- 
eign countries.  Some  writers  have  pointed  out  that  the 
deposition  of  the  king  (which  had  already  taken  place  when 


422  MODERN  HISTORY. 

the  Republic  was  proclaimed)  should  have  barred  all  these 
accusations.  But  this  was  not  a  time  either  for  legal  tech- 
nicalities or  calm  judgment  to  have  any  weight.  Robespierre 
appealed  to  the  will  of  the  people.  "  What  have  not  the 
friends  of  liberty  to  fear,"  said  he,  "  when  they  see  the  ax 
unsteady  in  your  grasp,  and  detect  a  regret  for  your  past 
fetters,  even  after  your  emancipation  ?  " 

323.  Louis  stood  before  his  judges  with  a  firm  counte- 
The  trial  con-  nance.  He  required  counsel,  and  when  one 
tinued.  Qf  those  he  selected  declined  the  task,  Males- 
herbes  \malz-erb'\  who  had  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign 
been  one  of  his  ministers,  came  forward  to  undertake  his 
master's  defense.  Said  he :  "I  have  been  twice  called  to 
assist  at  his  council-table,  when  such  a  summons  was  an  ob- 
ject of  ambition  to  every  one.  I  owe  him  the  same  service 
now  that  it  is  a  function  that  many  persons  would  consider 
dangerous,"  After  an  able  defense  by  Malesherbes,  a  long 
and  earnest  discussion  arose.  Robespierre  said,  "  The  last 
proof  of  devotion  which  we  owe  to  our  country  is  to  stifle  in 
our  hearts  every  sentiment  of  sensibility."  On  the  side  of 
the  Girondists  vigorous  efforts  were  made  in  the  king's  de- 
fense ;  but  finally  the  discussion  was  closed,  and  three 
questions  were  put  to  the  vote,  —  the  guilt  of  Louis,  the  ap- 
peal to  the  people,  and  the  penalty. 

324.  The  king  by  a  unanimous  vote  was  pronounced 

guilty,  and  the  appeal  to  the  people  rejected  ; 

The  verdict.        °         •"        .  ,     ,  ,        .       1        •     n  •  ^.    j 

the  question  of  the  penalty  to  be  inflicted  re- 
mained. But  the  orators  did  not  deliberate  alone ;  fo 
around  the  doors  of  the  Assembly  was  a  savage  mob,  heap 
ing  threats  upon  all  who  dared  to  be  merciful,  —  so  that 
even  those  who  most  desired  to  save  the  king  became 
frightened.  For  ten  days  the  voting  went  on,  and  when 
with  a  voice  of  emotion  the  President  of  the  Convention, 
Vergniaud  \yern-yo''\  declared  the  result,  he  ^ound  that,  out 
of  721  votes,  the  sentence  awarded  by  a  majority  of  26  was 
death,  —  death  within  twenty-four  hours  ! 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  /^2\ 


325.  Louis  requested  the  attendance  of   a   priest  (the 
Abbd  Edgeworth)  to  administer  the  offices  of 

...  1  •         •       1  •      1  1  ^  ^^^  scene. 

rengion  to  him  m  his  last  moments :  the  re- 
quest was  granted.  A  last  interview  with  his  family,  from 
whom  he  had  for  some  time  been  separated,  was  granted 
also ;  but  the  keepers  required  that  the  meeting  should 
take  place  in  a  hall  which  had  a  glass  door  giving  a  view  of 
the  interior.  The  king  entered  the  apartment  at  eight, 
and  walked  about  for  some  time  in  expectation.  At  half 
past  eight  a  door  opened,  and  the  queen,  the  king's  sister 
Elizabeth,  and  his  two  children  entered,  casting  themselves 
with  sobs  into  his  arms.  After  a  long  and  sad  conference 
Louis  rose  and  promised  to  see  them  again  on  the  morrow : 
in  spite  of  this  promise,  which  was  not  to  be  fulfilled,  the 
farewell  was  heart-rending. 

326.  Towards  midnight  the  king  slept  soundly,  continuing 
to  do  so  till  five  in  the  morning,  when  he  re-  Execution  of 
ceived  the  sacrament  from  the  priest.  At  eight  ^ouis  xvi. 
on  the  morning  of  January  21,  1793,  the  officers  entered; 
the  procession  moved  between  two  lines  of  armed  men,  and 
arrived,  at  half  past  ten,  at  the  Place  de  la  Re'volution. 
There  in  a  large  open  space  stood  the  scaffold  with  the  fatal 
guillotine,*  surrounded  by  the  guards  and  a  rabble  uttering 
ferocious  cries  and  yells.  Louis  attempted  to  speak  :  "  I  die 
innocent ;  I  pardon  my  enemies  ;  and  as  for  you,  unfortunate 
people  —  "  but  the  drums  drowned  his  voice,  and  while  the 
confessor  poured  into  his  ear  the  words,  "  Son  of  St.  Louis, 
ascend  to  heaven !  "  the  king  ceased  to  live. 

327.  This  act  of  regicide  was  equivalent  to  a  declaration 
of  war  with  the  whole  of  Europe.     England,   Foreign  af- 
Holland,  Spain,  Germany,  Sweden,  and  finally  ^^''■*- 

*  "  La  guillotine,"  as  the  French  call  this  deadly  machine,  was  in- 
vented about  1755  by  Dr.  Guillotin,  whose  name  in  the  French  femi- 
nine form  it  bears.  It  is  a  large  loaded  knife  set  in  a  wooden  frame, 
and  its  action  is  instantaneous. 


424  MODERN  HISTORY. 

Russia,  flew  to  arms.  Almost  at  the  same  time  the  French 
province  of  La  Vendue  broke  into  open  insurrection,  and 
the  Republic  found  itself  called  upon  to  suppress  disaffec- 
tion at  home,  to  organize  armies,  and  to  defend  France 
from  350,000  of  the  best  troops  in  Europe,  now  approaching 
the  frontiers  upon  every  side.  A  levy  of  300,000  men  was 
accordingly  decreed,  and  Dumouriez  marched  into  Holland, 
where  he  won  several  victories  ;  but  soon  after,  becoming  dis- 
gusted with  the  excesses  of  the  republican  government,  he 
went  over  to  the  enemy's  camp.  Other  generals,  however, 
took  his  place,  and  the  war  went  on  in  the  Austrian  Nether- 
lands, along  the  Rhine,  and  in  Italy.  Though  sometimes 
beaten,  the  French  were  on  the  whole  victorious,  and  were 
able  all  the  time  to  make  head  against  the  allies.  The  en- 
ergy displayed  by  the  leaders  of  the  Revolution  was  truly 
amazing. 

328.  These  achievements  of  the  French  armies  abroad 
Excesses  of  the  were,  however,  almost  effaced  by  the  disgrace 
revolutionists,  -^yhich  fell  upon  the  name  of  the  Republic  in 
consequence  of  its  atrocities  at  home.  Appropriately  com- 
mencing with  the  abolition  of  religious  belief,  the  worship 
of  Reason,  and  the  suppression  of  the  Sabbath,  the  savage 
man  who  ruled  the  whirlwind  passed  on  to  a  saturnalia  of 
blood.  The  queen,  Marie  Antoinette,  the  king's  sister 
Elizabeth,  and  hundreds  of  persons  of  rank  and  station 
went  to  their  death.  The  victims  of  the  guillotine  in  Paris 
amounted  to  seventy  or  eighty  a  day,  and  a  sewer  was  con- 
structed for  the  express  purpose  of  carrying  off  the  human 
blood.  The  Girondists  were  slain  without  mercy.  Two 
hundred  thousand  suspected  persons  were  cast  into  prison, 
and  thence  day  by  day  brought  out  in  tumbrels  to  the 
place  of  doom.  It  is  shocking  to  record  that  women  sat 
and  knit  as  calmly  as  in  the  pit  of  a  theatre  while  the  fear- 
ful tragedy  was  being  played  out  before  their  eyes. 

329.  During  the  height  of  the  Reign  of  Terror  all  the 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  425 

powers  of  the  state  were  centered  in  a  small  body  of  Jaco- 
bins called  the  "  Committee  of  Public  Safety,"  The  leaders 
foremost  among  whom  were  Danton,  Robes-  struggles, 
pierre,  and  Marat.  Marat  met  a  deserved  death  at  the 
hands  of  Charlotte  Corday,  a  young  woman  who  came  to 
Paris  from  Caen  for  the  express  purpose  of  assassinating 
him,  —  a  purpose  which  she  accomplished  in  his  bath. 
Danton,  thinking  that  the  revolution  had  gone  far  enough, 
wished  to  bring  back  something  like  order.  But  the  "  sea- 
green  "  Robespierre  had  another  thought ;  he  determined 
to  destroy  his  former  friends,  that  he  might  stand  alone 
on  the  dreadful  eminence  of  terror.  He  succeeded  in  his 
attempt,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  was  himself  swallowed  up  in 
the  same  abyss. 

330.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1794  Robespierre  be« 
came  absolute  ruler  of  the  Convention,  and  he  Robespierre 
determined  to  exterminate  the  leaders  of  all  ™^s'^^'"- 
parties.  He  therefore  denounced  on  the  one  hand  what 
were  called  the  anarchists  as  enemies  to  the  true  welfare 
of  the  state,  and  on  the  other  the  moderates  as  lukewarm  in 
the  cause  of  liberty.  Among  the  latter  were  Danton  and 
his  party:  the  leader  himself,  with  most  of  his  followers, 
went  to  the  scaffold.  Robespierre  ruled  by  murder,  and 
between  June  10  and  July  17,  1794,  he  sent  1285  persons  to 
the  guillotine  in  Paris. 

331.  At  length,  terrified  by  the  rapidity,  the  impartiality, 
and  the  number  of   Robespierre's  condemna- 

'^  ,  The  reaction. 

tions  the  members  of  the  Convention  re- 
solved to  rid  themselves  of  the  tyrant.  No  man's  life  was 
certain  for  a  day.  No  man  knew  but  that  his  name  might 
be  found  upon  the  next  list  of  victims.  On  the  27th  of 
July,  1794,  Robespierre  was  defied  in  the  tribune,  and  with 
his  brother  and  some  of  his  accomplices  arrested.  A  con- 
test between  the  Assembly  and  the  Jacobins  of  the  city 
ensued :  after  many  times  inclining  the  other  way,  it  was 
decided  in  favor  of  the  Convention. 


426  MODERN  HISTORY. 

332.  Robespierre,  with  some  of  his  fellow-demons,  had 
Death  of  taken  refuge  in  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  In  despair 
Robespierre,  j-^g  attempted  self-destruction  with  a  pistol,  but 
only  fractured  his  jaw.  He  and  his  fellows  were  cast 
rudely  into  a  cart  and  carried  to  the  guillotine  (July  28, 
1794),  where  they  suffered  a  part  of  the  punishment  due  to 
;Jieir  accumulated  crimes. 

333.  The  Reign   of  Terror  was  over.     It  is  true  that 

some  of  the  Jacobin  members  of  the  Convention 
continued  to  advocate  the  principles  of  the 
revolutionar}'  tribunals,  and  the  sans-culottes  attempted  one 
or  two  insurrections.  But  the  reaction  had  fairly  set  in. 
The  people  awoke  as  from  a  hideous  dream.  The  prisons 
were  opened,  the  living  Girondists  were  recalled  from  exile, 
the  laws  of  Robespierre  were  repealed,  and  the  churches 
were  again  devoted  to  the  worship  of  God. 

334.  While  these  things  were  passing  in  Paris,  the  cam- 
Foreign  sue-  paigns  against  the  allies,  who  had  all  along 
cesses.  V&^l  the  field  against  the  French,  were  emi- 
nently successful.  All  Flanders,  the  frontiers  of  Holland, 
and  many  strongholds  on  the  Rhine,  as  also  several  places 
in  Spain,  submitted  in  1794  to  French  commanders.  And 
early  in  1795  the  French  general  Pichegru  marched  into 
Holland  and  took  possession  of  Amsterdam.  The  stadt- 
holder  fled  to  England,  and  up  to  the  close  of  the  revolu- 
tionary wars  Holland  remained  a  dependency  of  France. 
Indeed,  so  successful  were  the  French  in  the  field,  that  in 
the  year  1795  both  Prussia  and  Spain  made  peace  with  them. 

335.  In  this  same  year,  1795,  France  received  a  new  con- 
The  new  gov-  stitution,  —  the  third  since  1789.  Two  legis- 
ernment.  lativc  couucils  Were  decreed,  —  the  Ancients 
and  the  Five  Hundred.  The  executive  power  was  vested  in 
five  Directors,  and  hence  the  name  of  the  Directory  is  often 
given  to  this  phase  of  French  government.  The  Directors 
were  to  be  chosen  by  the  two  councils,  and  each  Director 
was  to  be  in  turn  President  for  three  months. 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION:  427 

336.  The  Directory  was  not  established  without  a  strug- 
gle.    The  inhabitants  of  Paris  were  dissatisfied  conflict  for 
with  the  change  proposed  by  the  Convention  ;  P°wer. 

so  the  citizens  by  their  Sections,  or  municipal  divisions 
joined  battle  with  the  Convention,  supported  by  5000  regu- 
lar troops.  The  Sections,  joined  by  the  National  Guards, 
mustered  40,000  men,  and  had  at  first  the  advantage.  The 
Convention,  however,  gave  command  of  the  regular  force  to 
a  general  named  Barras.  He  nominated  as  his  second  in 
command  a  young  Corsican  officer  of  artillery  named  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte,  of  whom  we  shall  soon  hear  a  great  deal. 

337.  Bonaparte  pointed  his  cannon  down  all  the  streets 
by  which  the  Tuileries  could  be  approached,  Triumph  of 
and  when  the  assailants  attempted  to  advance  *^^  Directory, 
he  mowed  down  the  mass  with  grape-shot  (October  4,  1795). 
This  settled  the  matter :  the  Convention  triumphed,  and  the 
new  constitution  and  Directory  stood  on  firm  ground. 
With  this  ended  the  French  Revolution,  and  here  opened 
the  wonderful  career  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

338.  Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  of  Italian  blood  and  name, 
and  was  a  native  of  Corsica.    Only  two  months   Youth  of 
before  the  birth  of  Napoleon  (which  took  place   Napoleon. 

in  the  year  1769)  Corsica  had  given  up  its  long  struggle  for 
independence  and  was  incorporated  with  France,  —  so  that 
he  chanced  to  be  born  with  all  the  privileges  of  French  citi- 
zenship. He  was  the  second  son  of  Charles  Bonaparte,  a 
lawyer.  At  the  age  of  ten  he  was  sent  away  from  home  to 
the  French  Military  School  at  Brienne.  Here  he  spent 
over  five  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the  official  report 
made  of  him  was  as  follows :  "  Distinguished  in  mathemati- 
cal studies,  tolerably  versed  in  history  and  geography,  much 
behind  in  Latin,  belles-lettres,  and  other  accomplishments  ; 
of  regular  habits,  studious  and  well-behaved,  and  enjoying 
excellent  health."  In  1785  he  received  his  commission  ajt 
a  sub-lieutenant  of  artillery. 


428  MODERN  HISTORY 


339.  When  the  Revolution  broke  out  Napoleon  took  the 
popular  side.  He  first  comes  to  notice  in  connection  with 
First  appear-  the  sicgc  of  Toulon.  That  city  had  made  a 
•oidier.  royalist  uprising  in  1793,  and  the  garrison  was 
aided  by  English  and  Spanish  ships.  The  Republican  gen- 
eral, Barras,  made  very,  little  progress  till  Napoleon  dis- 
covered a  mode  of  converging  his  artillery-fire  on  the  forts  in 
the  harbor,  and  the  result  was  that  Toulon  soon  fell.  Barras 
recognized  the  ability  of  the  young  artillerist,  and  accord- 
ingly, when  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  troops 
of  the  Convention  to  oppose  the  Paris  Sections,  he  asked 
for  Lieutenant-Colonel  Bonaparte  as  his  assistant.  The 
part  which  Napoleon  played  on  that  occasion  we  have 
already  seen. 

340.  In  the  new  government  of  the  Directory,  which  we 
His  advance-  saw  formed  in  1795,  Barras  was  one  of  the 
ment.  ^yg  Directors.  Now  in  the  spring  of  1796 
the  Republic  organized  three  great  armies  to  oppose  the 
allied  enemies  of  France.  One  army  was  given  to  General 
Moreau  \mor-o'\  another  to  General  Jourdan'.  The  third, 
the  army  of  Italy,  through  the  friendly  influence  of  Barras 
was  conferred  upon  the  young  Corsican  officer.  He  was 
twenty-six  years  of  age,  and  had  but  just  married  Jose- 
phine, widow  of  the  Count  de  Beauharnais  \bo-harn-a!\ 
when  appointed  to  this  important  command. 

341.  A  strict  following  of  chronology  would  require  us 


Napoleon's  re-   here  to  enter  upon  the  narrative  of  the  cam- 

lations  with  .  ,  it  i  i      •      t^    i  if 

the  Revolution,  paign  that  Napoleon  now  made  m  Italy,  and  or 
his  subsequent  campaigns,  up  to  the  close  of  the  i8th  cen- 
tury. But  it  will  be  much  more  convenient  to  treat  the 
Napoleonic  wars  as  a  whole,  which  we  shall  be  able  to  do 
in  the  next  chapter.  And,  indeed,  it  is  the  appearance  of 
Napoleon  on  the  stage,  rather  than  the  mere  date  of  the 
year  1800,  that  marks  the  close  of  the  period  under  review, 
The  booming  of  the  cannon  with  which,  on  that  Octobei 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  429 

day,  in  the  year  1795,  ^^  stayed  the  on-coming  of  the 
Sections  and  secured  the  victory  of  the  Directory,  was  the 
death-knell  of  the  Revolution,  and  announced  a  great  era 
of  French,  and  indeed  of  European,  history,  in  which  him- 
self was  for  twenty  years  to  be  the  central  figure.  France 
had  waded  through  revolution  to  a  republic,  but  it  was  only 
to  find  herself  in  the  hands  of  a  master  more  despotic  than 
any  king  that  had  ever  sat  upon  her  throne. 


5.     PROGRESS   OF   CIVILIZATION. 

342.  The   details    already   given   under    the    topics    em- 
braced  in   this   chapter   show   that   the    i8th   character  of 
century  was  a  period  of  wonderful  changes,  —  *^°  century. 
a  time  when  old  ideas  and  old  institutions  were  swept  away 
in  a  manner  that  had  never  happened  in  any  previous  time. 

343.  The  great  characteristic  of  this  period  is  the  ad- 
vance of  democratic  ideas.  These  ideas  were  influence  of 
first  promulgated  in  systematic  form  in  France,  ^''^^'^^  writers, 
where  about  the  middle  of  the  i8th  century  a  series  of 
remarkable  writers  arose  to  doubt  and  question  all  existing 
beliefs  and  things.  There  were  wits  and  philosophers  and 
economists  in  this  school ;  and  its  leaders  were  Voltaire, 
Rousseau,  Montesquieu,  Diderot,  Condorcet,  and  the  En- 
cyclopedists. They  attacked  the  State  and  the  Church 
with  bitter  wit  and  telling  arguments.  They  were  not 
always  wise  men,  nor  were  their  motives  always  noble  ;  but 
they  did  a  needed  work  in  what  was,  perhaps,  the  only  way 
possible.  They  voiced  a  passionate  desire,  that  swelled  in 
the  hearts  of  all  the  peoples,  for  those  "  inalienable  rights  " 
of  which  kings  had  robbed  them. 

344.  These  ideas,  though  first  proclaimed  as  theory  in 
France,   were   to  find   their    earliest   practical    Democracy  in 
embodiment  in  America.     England  itself  was   America, 
astir  with  the  new  thought,  and  in  our  own  country  was  a 


430  MODERN  HISTORY. 


constituent  part  of  the  English  people,  whom  the  circum- 
stances of  colonial  life  had  obliged  in  a  great  measure  to 
exercise  self-government,  —  so  that,  of  all  parts  of  the 
world  the  American  colonies  were  the  ripest  for  democracy. 
The  influence  of  the  French  school  of  political  and  social 
philosophers  upon  the  founders  of  our  Republic  is  readily 
traceable,  and  the  Declaration  of  Independence  draws  some  of 
its  inspiration  from  Rousseau's  Contrat  Social. 

345.  While  France  by  her  ideas  influenced  America,  the 

Influence  of  rcflex  influence  of  America  on  France  was  pro- 
America  on  .  .  .  ,  ,  ,.  ,  ,  TT  ■  1 
France.             digious.     Here  m  the  Republic  of  the  United 

States  was  a  living  embodiment  of  the  gospel  of  democ- 
racy. Here  was  a  great  self-ruling  nation,  —  a  government 
of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people.  French 
armies  and  fleets  had  fought  to  establish  this  government, 
and  the  reports  from  across  the  Atlantic,  and  the  living 
voice  of  those  who  had  shared  the  conflict,  set  the  blurred 
brain  of  every  poor  French  serf  into  activity. 

346.  The  result  of  this  ferment  was  the  French  Revolu- 
Phiiosophy  of  tion,  —  that  savage  uprising  of  a  people  against 
Revolution.  the  abuses  of  feudalism  and  the  divine  right  of 
kings.  That  this  deluge  swept  away  much  that  was  good 
cannot  be  doubted  ;  yet  it  is  equally  certain  that  all  the 
crimes  and  atrocities  of  the  dreadful  period  between  1789 
and  1795  were  far  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  per- 
manent gains  which  liberty  then  made. 

347.  The  influence  of  the  French  Revolution  spread 
Influence  of       throughout  all  the  nations  of  Europe.     Even 

the  revolution        ,        ^     ,  ,.   .      ,        , 

generally.  where   there    was   no   great   political   change 

there  was  a  wide  social  change  ;  and  we  may  say,  gen- 
erally, that  since  that  great  popular  upheaval  there  has 
been  no  part  of  Europe  where  the  people  have  been  so 
utterly  down-trodden  as  they  were  before.  If  all  the  glit- 
tering dreams  of  French  Liberie,  Fraternite,  and  Egaliti 
were  not  destined  to  be  realized,  one  immense  and  perma- 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION:  43 1 


nent  gain  there  was :  it  was  acknowledged  that  the  people 
have  rights,  and  ever  since  that  time  there  have  been  slow 
yet  steady  advances  towards  the  embodiment  of  these  rights 
in  the  constitution  of  society  and  nations. 

348.  The  literature  of  the   i8th  century  is  distinctively 
the    literature   of    wit,   which    glitters    in    all 

kinds  of  composition,  —  letters,  pamphlets, 
lampoons,  essays,  novels,  and  poetry.  Nearly  every  cele- 
brated writer  had  the  talent  of  exciting  laughter  not  only  as 
a  conspicuous  talent,  but  as  his  most  conspicuous.  Pious 
Addison  and  pious  Cowper  had  it,  surly  Dr.  Johnson,  good- 
natured  Goldsmith,  courtier  Voltaire,  and  rustic  Burns. 
Another  century  of  ridicule  may  not  occur  again  in  history, 
but  it  was  needed.  Institutions,  manners,  and  habits  had 
become  ridiculous  and  vicious,  and  they  required  to  be 
laughed  out  of  the  world.  (For  the  most  eminent  writers 
of  the  i8th  century  see  "Great  Names,"  pages  437,  438.) 

349.  In  pure  philosophy  the  progress  was  not  specially 
marked.     In  England   Locke's   Essay  on   the 

Human  Unda'standhig  had  at  the  time  a  great 
repute  ;  but  the  book  has  not  held  its  place.  Bishop 
Berkeley  propounded  a  form  of  idealism,  and  Reid  on  the 
other  hand  put  forth  his  system  of  Common  Sense.  The 
contributions  of  Hume  have  probably  had  a  more  lasting 
influence  than  those  of  any  contemporary  English  phi- 
losopher. French  philosophy  was  almost  wholly  of  a 
negative  and  destructive  character,  —  and  hence  had  but 
a  temporary  influence.  Far  deeper  were  the  metaphysical 
speculations  which  now  began  to  engage  the  attention  of 
some  profound  German  philosophers.  Among  these  the 
greatest  name  is  that  of  Kant,  whose  system  laid  the  basis 
of  all  subsequent  German  metaphysics. 

350.  The  fine  arts  were   cultivated   assiduously  during 
this  century.      It  was  now  for  the   first  time 

_,•',,  ,  .    Fine  arto. 

that  England  began  to  have  native  pamters  of 


432  MODERN  HISTORY. 

some  eminence  and  originality.  The  chief  names  in  the 
English  school  are  Gainsborough,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
and  Benjamin  West,  the  last  of  whom  was  born  in  this 
country.  But  the  most  notable  fact  in  the  artistic  history 
of  this  period  is  the  great  advance  in  the  art  of  music, 
which  now  began  to  take  embodiment  in  truly  grand  com- 
positions. It  is  sufficient  to  mention  the  names  of  Handel, 
Haydn,  and  Mozart.  These  great  composers  all  belonged 
to  the  1 8th  century,  and  they  were  the  fathers  and  founders 
of  modern  music. 

351.  The  progress  of  science  during  this  century  was 
Science.  most  Striking.  It  was  at  this  time  that  chem- 
Chemistry.  jg^ry  first  took  rank  as  a  science.  Black  dis- 
covered carbonic  acid  gas ;  Cavendish,  the  composition  of 
water,  and  the  constituents  of  the  atmosphere  ;  Priestley, 
oxygen  and  more  new  substances  than  any  other  chemist ; 
while  the  great  French  chemist,  Lavoisier  \la-vtodz-yea'\  sys- 
tematized and  generalized  all  previous  discoveries,  adding 
also  other  important  contributions. 

352.  The   science   of   electricity  may  be    said   to   have 

originated  at  this  same  time.  Benjamin 
Franklin  did  much  for  this  branch  of  investi- 
gation, both  by  theory  and  by  experiment.  He  demonstrated 
the  identity  of  natural  and  artificial  electricity.  Then  came 
an  accident  that  made  the  electric  telegraph  possible  in  oui 
own  time.  The  wife  of  Galvani,  a  professor  in  Bologna, 
had  skinned  some  frogs,  and  noticed  the  twitching  of  the 
leg  of  one  of  them  when  the  nerve  came  in  contact  with  £ 
piece  of  metal,  —  and  this  was  the  first  observed  manifesta- 
tion of  galvanism.  To  produce  it  Volta  devised  his  pile, 
but  in  time  a  battery  of  plates  of  zinc  and  copper  was 
found  most  convenient. 

353'  To  enumerate  even  a  tithe  of  the  great  scientific 
Other  discov-  discovedes  that  render  the  iSth  century  illus- 
^*''*®-  trious  is  impossible  here.     It  was   then   that 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  433 

the  basis  of  modern  geology  was  laid.  Botany,  from  a 
jumble  of  pre-existing  observations,  was  by  the  genius  of 
Linnaeus  first  brought  into  systematic  form.  Comparative 
anatomy  was  created.  The  weight,  form,  and  size  of  the 
earth  were  determined.  Laplace  collected  and  elaborated 
the  mathematics  of  astronomy  in  his  Mecanique  Celeste;  Sir 
William  Herschel  discovered  Uranus  (1781),  and  resolved 
the  Milky-Way  into  distinct  and  separate  stars.  Adam 
Smith,  in  his  Wealth  of  Nations,  created  the  science  of  po- 
litical economy,  and  thereby  rendered  mankind  one  of  the 
greatest  services. 

354.  Striking  as  are  these  advances  of  pure  science,  we 
are  even  more  impressed  by  the  mighty  practi-  Great  inven- 
<bal  applications  in  the  arts  of  industry  which  ^'°"^- 
science  received  at  this  time.  At  the  right  moment,  when 
human  undertakings  became  too  vast  for  the  hand  and  for 
primitive  implements,  Brindley,  Watt,  and  Arkwright,  and 
other  great  inventive  geniuses,  devised  machinery  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  the  new  industrial  era.  Navigable  ca- 
nals began  to  be  made,  and  the  genius  of  James  Brindley 
proved  that  in  the  construction  of  these  highways  the  most 
formidable  engineering  difficulties  might  be  overcome.  The 
manufacture  of  iron  received  an  immense  impetus  by  Roe- 
buck's process  of  smelting  by  coal  instead  of  charcoal. 
Machinery  was  applied  to  spinning  and  weaving  cotton. 
The  spinning-jenny  was  invented  by  Hargreaves  in  1765, 
the  spinning-frame  by  Arkwright  in  1768,  and  the  mule-jenny 
by  Crompton  in  1775.  But  the  crowning  achievement  of 
the  age  was  that  of  the  Scotchman,  James  Watt,  who  though 
not  actually  the  inventor  of  the  steam-engine,  so  improved 
it  as  to  place  a  new  power  in  the  hands  of  mankind.  Prob- 
ably no  material  service  of  equal  value  was  ever  rendered  to 
humanity.  Its  use  as  a  motive-power  at  once  revolution- 
ized all  the  processes  of  industry,  and  it  soon  drew  after  it, 
though  not  till  early  in  the  next  century,  steamboat  naviga- 

19  BB 


434  MODERN  HISTORY. 

tion,   railroad    traveling,   and   a    thousand   other   beneficial 
applications. 

355.  The  following  minor  though    important  details  of 

other  inven-      invention   and   industry   will   be   found   of    in- 
tions.  tgi-est .  — 

Piano-forte:  invented  by  an  organist  of  Dresden  in  171 7;  the  instru- 
ment was  not  made  in  England  until  1766. 

Caoutchouc,  or  india-rubber :  was  brought  to  Europe  from  South 
America  in  1730. 

Stereotyping :  William  Ged  of  Edinburgh  first  practiced  the  art  of 
printing  from  stereotype  plates. 

Chronometer:  John  Harrison  (1736 -1742),  in  response  to  a  Par- 
liamentary offer  of  a  reward  of  ;,^  20,000,  first  constructed  a  clock 
which  kept  perfect  sidereal  or  solar  time,  —  invaluable  in  determining 
the  longitude  of  ships  at  sea. 

Umbrellas :  in  1778  Joseph  Hanway  introduced  one  into  England, 
probably  from  Spain. 

Vaccination :  Jenner  made  the  first  experiment  of  inoculatng  a  child 

from  a  cow-pox  pustule  in  1796. 
Hydraulic  Press:  invented  by  Bramah,  an  Englishman,  in  1786;  by 

this  machine  a  slender  column  of  water  may  be  made  to  raise  the 

heaviest  weights. 
Gas-lights:  used  by  Murdoch  in  Cornwall  in  1792,  and  in  the  foundry 

of  Watt  and  Bolton  in  1798:  but  gas  was  not  used  for  street-lighting 

until  this  century. 
Cotton-gin:  Eli  Whitney,  an  American,  in  1793  made  a  machine  for 

separating  the  fiber  of  cotton    from  the  seed,  and  cleansing  it  with 

ease  ;  this  invention  enormouslv  increased  the  demand  for  cotton. 
Lithography :  was  invented  in  Germany  in  1 796. 

356.  All  great  inventions  are  essentially  democratic, 
Improvement  that  is,  they  tend  to  the  benefit  of  the  whole 
ef  the  masses,  people.  We  therefore  mark,  during  the  i8th 
century,  a  perceptible  rise  in  the  condition  of  the  European 
masses.  It  is  true,  there  was  a  terrible  amount  of  squalid 
poverty  and  deplorable  ignorance,  as  there  still  is  ;  but,  as  a 
wPiole,  things  were  on  the  mend.  The  poorer  classes  received 
an  amount  of  consideration  which  they  never  knew  before ; 


PROGRESS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  435 

while  they  inevitably  shared  in  the  advantages,  improve- 
ments, and  inventions  created  by  capitalists,  in  bringing 
more  of  the  comforts  of  life  within  their  reach.  Public 
libraries,  mechanics'  institutes,  clubs,  co-operative  societies, 
and  Sunday-schools  were  now  first  established.  It  is  a  fine 
proof  of  the  enlarging  humanity  of  the  age,  that  there  now 
arose  a  considerable  number  of  men  who  devoted  their  lives 
to  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  poor,  the  down- 
trodden, and  the  criminal.  John  Howard  is  famous  for  his 
labors  for  the  reform  of  prisons  in  England.  Thomas  Clark- 
son  and  William  Wilberforce  are  honored  as  the  leaders  of 
the  party  which  did  away  with  the  slave-trade  in  the  English 
colonies.  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  is  distinguished  for  his 
efforts  to  improve  the  English  penal  laws,  at  that  time  the 
most  severe  in  Europe. 

357.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  towards  the  close  of  this 
century  men  began  to  lay  aside  the  elaborate  Reform  in 
fripperies  of  dress  —  the  hanging  cuffs  and  '^''^^s- 
lace  rufiies,  the  cocked  hats,  wigs,  buckles,  and  swords  — 
that  had  previously  constituted  the  costume  of  a  gentleman, 
and  took  to  a  sensible  attire,  fit  for  our  work-a-day  world. 
Gentlemen  turned  their  attention  to  more  useful  occupa- 
tions than  roistering,  drunkenness,  and  gallantry.  The 
occupation  of  a  merchant  or  a  manufacturer  became  hon- 
orable, and  the  morality  and  decorum  of  the  higher  classes 
had  a  beneficial  effect  upon  the  habits  of  tlie  common 
people. 


436  MODERN  HISTORY. 

GREAT    NAMES    OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 
PHILOSOPHERS   AND   SCIENTISTS. 

Swedenborg  (1688- 1772),  a  Swede  —  distinguished  for  scientific  and 
religious  speculations  —  believed  himself  favored  with  special  revela- 
tions—  wrote  voluminously  on  apocalyptic  subjects  —  his  doctrines 
still  followed  by  members  of  the  New  Church. 

Benjamin  Franklin  (1706- 1790),  an  American  philosopher  and  states- 
man —  his  public  career  well  known  —  established  the  identity  of  light- 
ning with  electricity,  and  contrived  lightning-rods  —  published  two 
volumes  of  essays,  with  an  autobiography. 

Linnaeus  (1707- 1778),  a  Swedish  botanist  —  simplified  and  popular- 
ized botany  —  introduced  a  new  system  of  classification  by  stamens 
and  pistils. 

D'Alembert  (1717-1783),  an  eminent  French  scientist  —  principal 
contributor  to  the  famous  French  Eftcyclopedia. 

Hunter,  William  and  John  (1718-  1783,  1728-  1793),  brothers,  born 
in  Scotland  —  both  distinguished  as  anatomists  —  two  of  the  greatest 
surgeons  that  ever  lived. 

Adam  Smith  (1723  -  1790),  a  Scotchman  —  professor  in  Glasgow 
University  —  chief  work,  the  Wealth  of  Nations,  by  which  was  founded 
the  science  of  Political  Economy. 

Kant  (1724- 1804),  a  German  metaphysician  of  the  first  rank  —  his 
great  work,  The  Critique  of  Pure  Reason,  which  is  a  review  and  recon- 
struction of  the  whole  theory  of  human  knowledge. 

Priestley  {1733- 1804),  by  profession  a  Unitarianminister,  but  by  nature 
a  priest  of  science  —  discovered  o.vygen  —  a  voluminous  writer  — 
sympathized  with  the  French  Revolution,  for  doing  which  his  house, 
library,  and  valuable  apparatus  were  burned  by  a  mob. 

Galvani  (1737- 1798),  an  Italian  physician  —  discovered  that  part  o: 
electricity  known  as  galvanism. 

William  Herschel  (1738- 1822),  a  great  astronomer  —  came  to  Eng- 
land as  a  bandman  in  the  Hanoverian  Guards  —  improved  the  reflect- 
ing telescope  —  discovered  Uranus  in  1781. 

Lavoisier  (1743- 1794),  one  of  the  greatest  French  chemists  —  de- 
vised the  improved  chemical  nomenclature  —  first  introduced  the 
balance  into  chemical  analysis  —  was  guillotined  during  the  French 
Revolution. 

Bentham  (1747-  1832),  a  political  philosopher,  and  juridical  reformer  «- 


GREAT  NAMES  OF  THE  \%TH  CENTURY.        437 

one  of  the  deepest  thinkers  England  ever  produced  —  was  the  author 
of  Utilitarianism  —  chief  works,  The  Principles  of  Morals  and  Legisla- 
tion^ and  Evidence  and  Penal  Legislation. 
Laplace  (1749-  1827),  a  celebrated  French  mathematician  —  author  of 
the  Mkanique  Celeste,  a.  work  that  produced  as  great  a  sensation  in  the 
scientific  world  as  Newton's  Principia. 

WRITERS. 

Jonathan  Swift  (1667- 1745),  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  Dublin  — an 
eminent  political  writer  —  chief  work,  Gulliver's  Travels  —  wrote 
verses  also  —  very  sarcastic  —  died  mad. 

Addison  (1672-  1719),  educated  at  Oxford  —  much  engaged  in  politics 
under  Anne  and  George  I.  —  famous  for  his  prose  papers  in  the  Spec- 
tator —  wrote  also  Cato,  a  Tragedy,  A  Letter  from  Italy,  and  other 
poems. 

(Alexander  Pope  (1688- 1744),  the  son  of  a  London  linen-draper  — 
wrote  good  verses  at  twelve  —  chief  works,  the  Essay  on  Man,  The 
Rape  of  the  Lock,  a  short  mock-heroic  poem,  and  a  translation  of 
Homer  into  English  verse  —  lived  chiefly  at  Twickenham  on  the 
Thames  —  deformed,  sickly,  and  peevish. 

Richardson  (1689-  1761),  one  of  the  founders  of  English  novel-writing 

—  his  chief  works,  Pamela,  Clarissa  Harlowe,  and  Sir  Charles  Gran- 
dtson — they  are  now  regarded  as  tedious  and  sentimental. 

Montesquieu  (1689-  1755),  an  eminent  French  thinker  —  born  near 
Bordeaux  —  president  in  the  parliament  of  that  city  —  chief  works, 
Lettres  Persannes,  Esprit  des  Lois. 

Voltaire  (1694- 1778),  the  greatest  of  French  wits  and  satirists  — 
author  of  the  Henriade,  the  only  French  epic  poem  —  among  his 
historical  works  are  the  Age  of  Louis  XIV.,  History  of  Charles  XII. 

—  wrote  numerous  plays  and  minor  poems  —  lived  his  last  twenty 
years  at  Ferney  in  Ain  —  an  enemy  of  the  Christian  faith  —  his 
mission  was  to  destroy. 

BufTon  (1707-  1788),  born  at  Montbard  in  Burgundy —  a  great  natural- 
ist —  chief  work,  his  Histoire  Naturelle. 

Fielding  (1707-1754),  the  greatest  of  the  English  novelists  of  the  i8th 
century  —  his  chief  works,  Tom  fones,  fonathan  V^ilde,  and  Joseph 
Andrews. 

Samuel  Johnson  (1709- 1784),  born  at  Lichfield  —  lived  generally  in 
London  —  chief  works,  The  Lives  of  the  Poets  ;  Rasselas,  an  Eastern 
Tale  ;  an  English  Dictionary ;  and  a  poem  called  London. 

David  Hume  (1711  -  i776i,  a  Scotch  philosopher  and  historian  —  chief 


438  MODERN  HISTORY. 

work,  History  of  England  —  held  the  strange  doctrine  that  we  can  be 
sure  of  nothing  —  wrote  a  Treatise  on  Human  Nature  and  Essays. 

Rousseau  (i  712 -1778),  born  at  Geneva — son  of  a  watchnialcer  —  a 
skeptic  in  religious  matters  —  author  of  many  operas  and  eloquent 
literary  works  —  obliged  to  leave  France  on  the  publication  of  his 
Contrat  Social,  an  essay  which  maintains  the  equal  rights  of  all  men. 

Sterne  (1713-1768),  prince  of  English  humorists  —  author  of  Tristram 
Shandy  and  The  Sentimental  Journey. 

Oliver  Goldsmith  (1728- 1774),  bom  in  Ireland  — in  early  life  re- 
garded as  an  idiot  —  rose,  however,  to  be  a  famous  writer  —  best- 
known  works,  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  Deserted  Village,  and  She 
Stoops  to  Cojiquer  —  marked  by  charming  simplicity  of  style,  tender- 
ness of  sentiment,  and  racy  description. 

Lessing  (1729- 1 781),  a  German  critic  and  playwright  —  chief  works, 
Laocoon  and  the  Tragedy  oi  Emilia  Galotti —  a  very  profound  and  sug- 
gestive thinker. 
'"  Edmund  Burke  (1730- 1797),  born  in  Dublin  —  a  famous  orator  — 
chief  works,  An  Essay  on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful  and  Reflections 
on  the  French  Revolution. 
"^Edward  Gibbon  (1737- 1794),  born  in  Surrey  —  chief  work,  77^1?  De- 
cline and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  in  six  volumes,  written  in  twelve 
years. 

Robert  Burns  (1759-1796),  an  Ajrrshire  farmer  —  famed  for  his  lyric 
poems  —  author  of  the  Cotter^ s  Saturday  Night  and  Tam  O^Shanter. 

Schiller  (1759-1805),  a  distinguished  German  poet  and  prose  writer  — 
made  Professor  of  History  at  Jena  in  1789  —  the  great  dramatist  of 
Germany  —  chief  works,  William  Tell  and  Wallenstein  —  wrote  also 

,    a  History  of  the  Thirty  Years'   War. 


ARTISTS. 

Handel  (1684- 1759),  an  illustrious  German  musical  composer  —  very 
precocious  as  a  boy  —  visited  England  in  1710,  and  remained  there 
during  the  most  of  his  subsequent  life  —  his  most  famous  oratorios 
are  Israel  in  Egypt,  The  Alessiah,  and  Judas  Maccabceus. 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  (1723 -1792),  born  in  Devonshire  —  the  first 
President  of  the  Royal  Academy  —  a  famous  portrait  and  histoiical 
painter  —  published  Discourses  on  Painting  —  a  great  friend  of  Dr. 
Johnson. 

Thomas  Gainsborough  (1727 -1788),  born  in  Suffolk  —  a  fine  painter 
of  English  landscapes  —  lived  in  Ipswich,  Bath,  and  London. 


GREAT  NAMES  OF  THE    \%TH  CENTURY.        439 


Haydn  (1732- 1809),  born  near  Vienna  —  a  great  musical  genius  — 
father  of  modern  orchestral  music  —  greatest  work,  The  Creation,  an 
oratorio. 

Benjamin  West  (1738- 1820),   born  in  America:    President  of  the 

Royal  Academy ;  a  distinguished  historical  painter. 
Mozart  (1756-  1792),  a  great  German  musician  —  lived  much  at  Vienna 

—  chief  works,  Do7t  Giovanni,  and  the  celebrated  Requiem,  the  latter 

written  on  his  death-bed  —  died  of  fever,  December  5,  1792,  aged  36. 
Canova  (1757- 1822),  a  celebrated  Italian  sculptor  —  famous  for  many 

very  beautiful  statues. 

INVENTORS. 

James  Brindley  (1716-1772),  native  of  England  —  engineer  of  the 
canal  made  by  Duke  of  Bridgewater  from  Worsley  to  Manchester,  and 
hence  the  founder  of  canal  navigation. 

Hargreaves  (1730-  1778),  born  in  England  —  the  inventor  of  the  card- 
ing-machine  as  a  substitute  for  carding  by  hand  —  produced  the  spin- 
ning-jenny in  1765  — was  persecuted  by  the  ignorant  of  his  time. 

Josiah  WedgTWOod  (1731  -  1795),  the  great  improver  of  our  porcelain 
manufacture  —  the  son  of  a  Staffordshire  potter  —  inventor  of  the 
*'  Queen's  ware,"  made  of  white  Dorsetshire  clay  mixed  with  ground 
flint. 

Sir  Richard  Arkwright  (1732-  1792),  born  at  Preston,  Lancashire  — 
originally  a  hair-dresser  —  invented  the  spinning-frame,  by  which 
hand-labor  is  saved  in  the  cotton-mills  —  hence  may  be  called  the 
founder  of  the  cotton  manufacture. 

James  Watt  (1736-1819),  native  of  Greenock  —  invented  the  double- 
acting  condensing  steam-engine,  and  applied  it  to  machinery  —  lived 
first  in  Glasgow,  and  then  in  Birmingham. 

Jacquard  (1752- 1834),  born  in  France  —  at  first  employed  as  a  plaiter 
of  straw  —  the  inventor  of  the  loom  for  figured  weaving  —  at  first  en- 
countered much  opposition  among  manufacturers,  but  his  machine  was 
soon  in  great  demand. 

Crompton  (1753-1827),  the  inventor  of //;<?  wz</<?,  amachine  that  greatly 
facilitated  the  spinning  of  yarn. 

Robert  Fulton  (1765-  1S15),  an  American  engineer  —  studied  in  Eng- 
land the  adaptation  of  the  steam-engine  to  boat-propulsion  —  applied 
his  knowledge  in  the  construction  of  the  first  large  steam-vessel« 
which  made  its  trial  trip  on  the  Hudson  in  the  year  1807. 


440 


MODERN  HISTORY. 


CHAPTER  V. 
GREAT  EVENTS  OF  THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


1.    THE  CONSULATE  AND   THE  EMPIRE. 

358.  We  have  now  come  to  a  period  that  is  in  the  strict- 
The  period  and  ^st  sense  modem  ;  for  when  we  speak  about 
its  character,  j.]^g  Niuetecrith  Century,  we  are  speaking  about 
our  own  times,  and  many  persons  who  are  now  alive  saw 
the  beginning  of  this  period.  It  is  an  age  crowded  beyond 
all  the  ages  of  history  with  great  events,  —  an  age  fuller, 
richer,  and  more  varied  than  was  ever  seen  before. 

359.  There  are  several  broad  facts  that  stamp  the  19th 
century  with  this  peculiar  character.      Thus:   First,  the 


J^mijitu(i< 


THE   CONSULATE  AND    THE  EMPIRE.  441 

Struggles  waged  in  this  period  are  no  longer  struggles  ot 
the  kings  with  one  another,  but  struggles  be-  Reasons  of 
tween  the  kings  and  the  peoples.  This  fact  alone  arityf^*^"  '' 
has  served  to  work  a  complete  change  in  the  politics  of 
Europe.  But,  secondly,  new  problems  of  a  political  and 
social  nature  have  arisen,  such  as  the  questions  of  democ- 
racy, of  representative  government,  of  national  unity,  of  the 
rights  of  labor,  etc.  ;  and  these  have  made  a  wonderful 
stirring  in  the  spirits  of  men.  Third,  The  historic  stage  is 
enlarged  to  embrace  the  whole  world,  since,  on  the  one 
hand,  new  nations  have  arisen  in  distant  and  hitherto  un- 
settled regions,  and,  on  the  other,  the  old  lands  of  Asia 
and  Africa  have  shown  a  marked  awakening,  and  have 
again  begun  to  count  for  something  in  the  world's  history, 
after  lying  dormant  for  ages. 

360.  The  first  of  our  topics  is  the  career  of  Napoleon, 
because  for  fifteen  years  he  was  the  great  cen-  Topic  here 
tral  figure  not  only  in  the  history  of  France,   treated  of. 
but  in  the  history  of  Europe. 

361.  In  the  last  chapter  the  narrative  of  events  in  France 
was  brought  up  to  the  establishment  of  the  gov-  Retrospect  of 
ernment  under  the  Directory,  in  1795.  This  is  events, 
known  as  the  Constitution  of  the  Year  III*  It  was  the 
third  constitution  France  had  received  since  the  outbreak 
of  the  revolution,  the  first  being  the  Constitution  of  1789 
(a  Constitutional  Monarchy,  formed  by  the  National,  or  Con- 
stituent, Assembly),  and  the  second,  the  Constitution  of 
September,  1792  (a  Republic,  formed  by  the  National  Con- 
vention).    The  establishment  of  the  republican  government 

*  The  "Year  III.,"  because  the  National  Convention  when,  in 
1792,  it  abolished  the  monarchy  and  declared  France  a  Republic,  also 
reformed  the  calendar,  decreeing  that  the  new  chronologic  era  should 
date  from  the  establishment  of  the  Republic,  September,  1792.  The  year 
1795  of  the  Christian  chronology  was  therefore  the  "Year  III."  ol 
French  antichristian  chronology, 

IQ* 


442  MODERN  HISTORY. 

under  the  Directory  may  be  regarded  in  some  sense  as 
the  close  of  the  French  Revolution  ;  for,  though  there  were 
many  subsequent  changes,  all  these  changes  were  effected 
by  the  Government,  or  its  armies,  without  the  interference  of 
the  people. 

362.  It  has  already  been  seen  that  the  French  Revolu 

Position  of        tion,  which  was  at  first  political  (that  is,  con- 
France  in  the  1       •  1       1        •  f  .       . 
war.                 cerned  with  the  mtemal   constitution  of   the 

French  government  and  society),  afterwards  became  military, 

or  aggressive,  because  the  European  sovereigns,  fearful  of 

its  consequences  in  their  own  dominions,  attacked  it.     The 

year  1792  saw  the  First  oi  that  series  of  Coalitions  against 

France  into  which  nearly  all  the  powers  of  Europe  were 

successively  drawn.     This  war  was  still  going  on  when,  in 

1795,  the  management  of  affairs  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 

Directory,   under   the    Constitution  of   the  Year  III.      In 

the  spring  of  1796  they  fitted  out  three  great  armies,  and 

the  command  of  the  army  of  Italy  was,  as  we  have  seen, 

assigned  to  the  young  general,  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

363.  The  Republic  under  the  Directory  lasted  for  four 
From  Repub-    years,  1795 -1799,  when  it  came  to  an  end, 

lie  to  Consu-       ^      .     '        '1.^  ;^/'  ,  ,.   ,       1         .  ,     T.T 

late.  and  the  Consulate  was  established,  with  Napo- 

leon as  First  Consul  and  real  master  of  France.  The  series 
of  events  by  which  this  change  was  brought  about  is  pre- 
sented in  the  following  synoptical  view,  which  shows  side  by 
side  the  military  operations  of  Napoleon  and  the  course  of 
affairs  under  the  Directory: — 

THE  DIRECTORY,  1796 -1799.  NAPOLEON,  1796-1799. 

1796:    The    Directory    organized  1796:  Italian  Campaign. — Na- 

three  armies,  —  two,  under  Jour-  poleon,  being  appointed  by  the 

dan    and    Moreau,    to    operate  Directory  to  the  command  of  the 

apainst  Germany ;  and  the  third,  army  of  Italy,  went,  in  March, 

under     Napoleon,     to     operate  1796,  to  his  headquarters  at  Nice, 

against  the    Austrians   in    Italy.  where  he  found  an  ill-fed,  half- 

The  armies  of  Moreau  and  Jour-  clad  army  of  36,000  men.     He 


THE   CONSULATE   AND    THE   EMPIRE. 


443 


dan,  uniting  in  Germany,  forced 
the  Austrian  army,  under  the 
Archduke  Charles,  to  retreat 
beyond  the  Danube.  But  the 
Archduke  Charles  then  took  the 
offensive,  and  defeated  Jourdan, 
while  Moreau  saved  himself 
only  by  a  rapid  retreat  through 
the  Black  Forest  and  over  the 
Rhine  (August).  An  ill-concerted 
expedition  under  General  Hoche 
was  sent  to  invade  Ireland, 
towards  the  close  of  the  year. 
He  returned  without  accomplish- 
ing anything. 


<797:  The  Directory  found  itself 
greatly  embarrassed  in  the  at- 
tempt to  rule  France.  The  elec- 
tions proved  more  favorable  to 
the  reaction  than  to  the  Repub- 
lic. The  government  according- 
ly determined  to  maintain  its 
position  by  force.  Troops  were 
brought  to  Paris ;  several  mem- 
bers of  the  Five  Hundred  and  of 
the  Ancients  were  arrested,  and 
two  of  the  Directors,  Carnot  and 
Barthelemy,  were  banished ;  so 


was  to  operate  against  the  Aus- 
trians  in  Italy,  where  they  had 
a  force  of  60,000  men.  He  en- 
tered Italy  by  a  series  Of  skillful 
manoeuvers.  "  Two  standards, 
fifty-five  pieces  of  cannon,  five 
victories,  15,000  prisoners,  and 
peace  with  the  Piedmontese  were 
the  results  of  a  campaign  of  fif- 
teen days."  In  May  Napoleon 
won  the  brilliant  victory  of  the 
Bridge  of  Lodi  and  entered  Mi- 
lan. He  next  attacked  the  Aus- 
trian army  under  Wurmser,  as 
it  marched,  divided,  along  the 
banks  of  the  Lago  di  Garda, — 
falling  upon  the  divisions  sepa- 
rately and  overwhelming  them  at 
Castiglione,  Roveredo,  and  Bas- 
sano  (August  and  September). 
Two  months  afterwards  he  had 
to  meet,  with  his  feeble  remnant 
of  an  army,  a  new  Austrian  force 
of  60,000  under  Alvinzi.  But 
Napoleon  was  victorious  at  the 
bridge  of  Areola  (near  Verona), 
and  as  the  result  the  third  Aus- 
trian army  was  driven  out  of 
Italy. 

1797  :  Wurmser,  beaten  the  previ- 
ous year,  still  lay  at  Mantua,  where 
Napoleon  besieged  him.  The 
Austrians  sent  a  fresh  force  of 
65,000  under  Alvinzi  across  the 
mountains  to  the  relief  of  Mantua. 
Napoleon,  reinforced  to  45,000 
men,  beat  this  army  at  Rivoli 
(January),  and  took  Mantua.  He 
then  advanced  to  the  Adriatic, 
captured  Venice  (in  consequence 
of  hostilities  against  the  French), 
and  overthrew  her  ancient  inde- 


444 


MODERN  HISTORY. 


chat  there  were  but  three  Direc- 
tors in  place  of  five.  This  violent 
movement  is  called  the  "  Revolu- 
tion of  i8th  Fructidor"  (Sep- 
tember 4,  1797). 


1798 :  The  Directory  had  now  to 
meet  a  Second  Coalition  against 
France,  consisting  of  England, 
Russia,  and  Austria  Things 
went  badly  for  the  French.  Italy, 
the  reward  of  Napoleon's  bril- 
liant campaign,  was  recovered  by 
the  Austrians,  aided  by  the  Rus- 
sians. The  finances  were  in  the 
worst  possible  condition.  The 
forced  conscription  ordered  by 
the  government  disgusted  all 
classes.  The  appeal  to  the  mili- 
tary by  the  Directory  made  them 
feel  their  power,  and  the  army  be- 
gan to  long  for  the  strong  hand  of 
a  martial  master.  The  members 
of  the  Directory  were  terrified, 


pendent  government.  He  next 
crossed  the  Alps  through  the 
Tyrol  into  Carinthia  and  Styria, 
making  for  Vienna ;  but,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  French  army 
operating  in  Germany  (under 
Moreau  and  Jourdan)  having 
been  driven  back  out  of  Ger- 
many by  the  Archduke  Charles, 
Napoleon's  base  of  operations 
was  threatened  by  the  advance  of 
the  Archduke  Charles  into  the 
Tyrol.  He  therefore  ceased  his 
advance  against  Vienna.  The 
Austrian  emperor  was  glad  to 
negotiate  for  peace.  The  Treaty 
of  Campo  Formio  (October,  1797) 
ended  the  campaign.  France 
obtained  possession  of  Milan, 
Mantua,  Modena,  Ferrara,  Bo- 
logna, Corfu,  Zante,  and  the 
whole  of  the  Austrian  Nether- 
lands. France  ceded  Venice  to 
Austria. 

1798  :   Egyptian  Campaign.  — 

Napoleon,  returning  at  the  close 
of  1797  to  France  after  this  bril- 
liant campaign,  became  the  hero 
of  the  French  people.  The  Di- 
rectory began  to  fear  his  popu- 
larity and  ambition ;  but  for 
some  months  he  lived  very  qui- 
etly with  Josephine  in  Paris. 
Napoleon  then  proposed  an  in- 
vasion of  Egypt  as  a  means  of 
attacking  the  commerce  and 
power  of  England  in  the  East. 
The  remoteness  of  the  expedition 
influenced  the  jealous  govern- 
ment in  giving  him  the  command. 
With  an  army  of  40,000  veter- 
ans,  he  landed  at  Alexandria; 


THE   CONSULATE  AND    THE  EMPIRE. 


445 


and  resigned  or  changed  their 
places. 


(799 :  With  the  armies  oi  the 
Coalition  threatening  the  soil  of 
France,  and  the  demoralized 
state  of  things  at  home,  the  mur- 
murs of  the  people  grew  louder 
and  louder,  and  the  government 
was  blamed  for  having,  in  what 
was  called  the  banishment  of 
Napoleon,  deprived  France  of 
the  only  man  who  was  equal  to 
the  occasion. 


and  captured  it  (July).  He  then 
overthrew  the  Mamelukes  in 
a  brilliant  action,  the  "  Battle 
of  the  Pyramids"  (July  2i), 
which  opened  to  the  conqueror 
the  gates  of  Cairo  and  made 
him  master  of  Egypt.  While 
Napoleon  was  thus  engaged, 
the  whole  of  his  vast  fleet,  an- 
chored in  Aboukir  Bay  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Nile,  was  totally 
destroyed  by  the  English  fleet 
under  Nelson  ("  Battle  of  the 
Nile,"  August  i).  Thus  left  in 
Egypt  with  his  army,  and  de- 
prived of  the  vessels  upon  which 
he  had  relied  for  his  return,  Na- 
poleon, undismayed,  saw  the  com- 
mencement of  his  Oriental  career. 

1799 :  Advancing  from  Egypt, 
through  the  desert  of  Arabia 
Petraea,  into  Palestine,  he  took 
Gaza,  and  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Tabor  defeated  the  Turks  with 
enormous  slaughter  (April) ;  but 
he  received  a  check  in  the  siege 
of  Acre  (defended  by  the  Turks 
and  a  body  of  English  marines 
under  Sir  Sydney  Smith) ;  so  that 
he  had  to  return  to  Egypt  after 
losing  half  his  army  (July). 
Here,  however,  he  won  a  bril- 
liant victory  over  the  Turks  at 
Aboukir.  Finding  now  that 
matters  were  in  great  confusion 
in  France,  Napoleon,  without 
consulting  the  wishes  of  the 
home  government,  left  the  army 
in  command  of  Kleber,  and,  em- 
barking secretly  on  a  French  frig- 
ate (August),  returned  to  France 
(October). 


44^  MODERN  HISTORY. 


364.  When,  in  October,  1799,  Napoleon  suddenly  re- 
Situation  on      turned   to  France  from   Egypt,  he  found  the 

return  of  Na-  .       .^    .         .  .   .  . 

poieon.  State  of  aftairs  in   a  condition   similar  to  that 

in  which  Caesar  found  Rome  on  his  return  from  Egypt. 
The  Republic  had  broken  down.  Anarchy  prevailed.  The 
Directory  was  without  any  support  in  public  opinion.  To 
concentrate  the  executive  power  in  a  single  individual 
needed  but  one  act  of  daring.  Napoleon  felt  that  his  was 
the  genius  to  conceive  and  execute  so  bold  a  deed. 

365.  The  Council  of  Five  Hundred  and  the  Council  of 
The  loth  of  Ancicnts  had  been  summoned  to  assemble  at 
November.         gj  qj^^^  ^^/^-jj  ^^  ^j^g  ^^^j^  ^£  November,  1799. 

On  that  day  General  Bonaparte,  who  had  been  appointed  to 
the  command  of  all  the  troops,  entered  the  Chamber  of  the 
Ancients,  and  protested  against  the  Constitution  under 
which  they  were  formed.  Leaving  the  senators  overwhelmed 
with  surprise,  he  proceeded  to  the  Council  of  Five  Hun- 
dred, accompanied  by  about  twenty  officers  and  grenadiers. 
He  reproached  the  members  vehemently  with  their  misrule, 
refused  to  swear  to  the  Constitution,  and  declared  the  Direc- 
tory an  incompetent  body.  But  he  was  received  with  cries 
of  "  Outlaw  him  !  Down  with  the  Dictator  !  "  and,  unaccus- 
tomed to  scenes  like  this,  he  retired  abashed.  Then  mount- 
ing his  horse  he  harangued  the  troops,  who  saluted  him  with 
acclamation.  "  Soldiers,  can  I  count  upon  you  ? "  cried 
the  new  candidate  for  empire.  "  Yes,  yes,"  was  the  reply  ; 
and  Murat  with  a  company  of  grenadiers  cleared  the  hall  of 
the  Assembly,  drowning  all  remonstrance  by  the  rattle  of 
the  drums. 

366.  The  Constitution  of  the  Year  III.  was  at  an  end. 
Nature  of  new  What  should  now  be  the  government  of  France  ? 
government.  There  was  at  that  time  in  Paris  a  certain  Abb^ 
Sieyes,  a  leader  in  politics,  and  a  great  constitution-monger. 
He  had  a  new  constitution  all  ready,  and  it  was  adopted. 
The  new  government  was  a  Consulate.     There  were  to  be 


THE   CONSULATE   ANV    THE   EMPIRE.  447 

three  Consuls,.  —  a  First  Consul,  and  two  assistants.  The 
First  Consul,  it  is  needless  to  say,  was  Napoleon.  The  two 
other  Consuls,  Sieybs  and  Ducos,  it  is  equally  needless  to 
say,  were  mere  clerks  to  register  his  decisions.  The  First 
Consul  was  to  have  the  patronage  of  all  the  offices  of  ad- 
ministration, of  the  army  and  navy,  and  of  the  magistracy, 
the  promulgation  of  laws,  and  the  declaration  of  peace  and 
war.  It  is  true,  France  preserved  the  show  of  a  Republic  (as 
did  Rome  under  Csesar),  and  provisions  were  made  in  the 
new  Constitution,  called  the  "  Constitution  of  the  Year 
VIII.,"  for  a  senate,  legislative  body,  etc. ;  but  in  reality 
Napoleon  was  master  of  France. 

367.  Napoleon  immediately  began  to  assert  his  power : 
he  placed  newspapers  under  the  severest  re-  Doings  of  Na- 
strictions,  shut  up  political  assemblies  through-  P°ieon. 

out  the  Repftblic,  and  filled  France  with  detectives ;  but  at 
the  same  time  he  improved  the  financial  condition  of  the 
country  by  establishing  the  Bank  of  France  and  removing 
restrictions  from  trade ;  while,  aware  of  the  national  taste 
for  show,  he  gathered  into  the  ball-rooms  of  the  Tuileries 
crowds  of  handsome  soldiers  and  lovely  women.  At  the 
same  time  he  bent  his  energies  to  the  raising  of  troops,  and 
a  quarter  of  a  million  of  conscripts  were  soon  marshaled 
beneath  his  banners. 

368.  And  he  needed  these  troops ;  for,  though  he  suc- 
ceeded in  detaching  Russia  from  the  Coalition,  Hostility  of 
yet  England  rejected  his  overtures  of  peace,  f°''='gn  powers, 
and  Austria  was  still  against  him.  Indeed,  England,  Aus- 
tria, and  most  of  the  European  powers  still  acknowledged 
Louis  XVIII.  as  the  only  legitimate  authority  in  France, 
and  regarded  Bonaparte  as  a  usurper.  The  "  usurper,"  how- 
ever, felt  every  inch  a  king  when  he  put  on  his  cocked  hat 
and  plain  gray  riding-coat,  and  summoned  his  legions  to 
follow  him  once  again  to  victory  on  the  plains  of  Italy.  It 
was  here  that  he  proposed  to  humble  Austria. 


448  MODERN  HISTORY. 


369.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1800,  having  by  artful 
The  Italian  mancEuvers  made  his  enemy  beheve  that  he  in- 
campaign.  tended  attacking  Germany  by  the  open  passage 
of  the  Rhine,  he  secretly  led  his  army  across  the  loft}'  sum- 
mits  of  the  Alps,  and  poured  like  an  avalanche  into  the  valley 
of  the  Po.  The  Austrians  —  two  or  three  times  his  own  num- 
bers—  had  chosen  the  great  level  of  Marengo  as  the  field  of 
battle,  and  there  fell  upon  the  French  on  the  march,  June  14, 
1800.  It  was  the  most  brilliant,  but  at  the  same  time  the 
most  bloody,  of  Napoleon's  earlier  battles,  and  resulted  in 
the  complete  defeat  of  the  Austrians,  who  were  driven  beyond 
the  Adige  and  the  Brenta.  Five  weeks  after  he  left  Paris 
he  made  his  re-entrance  into  that  enraptured  city.  In  No- 
vember of  the  same  year  Moreau,  whom  Napoleon  had 
sent  to  the  Rhine,  defeated  the  Austrians  at  Hohenlinden. 
These  successes  were  followed  by  the  treaty  of  Luneville, 
Februar}'-,  1801,  by  which  Austria  ceded  to  France  Belgium 
and  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine. 

370.  There  was  now  peace  around  all  the  borders  of 
Events  up  to  France  except  the  sea.  There  the  English 
the  peace.  ruled  Supreme.  In  order  to  destroy  this  su- 
premac}',  Napoleon  worked  in  the  Northern  courts  until  he 
united  Russia,  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  afterwards  Prussia,  in 
a  formidable  league  against  England  and  her  ships.  But 
Nelson,  sailing  into  the  harbor  of  Copenhagen,  crushed  the 
naval  power  of  Denmark  in  four  hours  (April  2,  1801).  A 
few  days  earlier  Paul  of  Russia,  the  enthusiastic  admirer  oi 
Napoleon,  was  strangled  by  conspirators.  So  the  giant 
league  melted  into  nothing,  and  as,  at  the  same  time,  the 
British  overwhelmed  the  remnant  of  the  French  force  in 
Egypt,  the  First  Consul  was  willing  to  make  peace.  This 
was  arranged  between  France  and  England  by  the  Treaty 
of  Amiens,  March,  1802.  The  peace  was,  however,  only  a 
breathing-spell,  for  neither  party  trusted  the  other. 

371.  That  Napoleon  had  the  entire  confidence  of  France 


THE   CONSULATE   AND   THE   EMPIRE.  449 

was  proved  by  a  decree  of  the  senate  (August,  1802),  pro- 
claiming him  First  Consul  for  life  ;  the  votes  of  Napoieon-s 
the  people  all  over  the  land  ratified  the  change,  ""eforms. 
And  his  own  conduct  showed  that,  to  the  best  of  his  knowl- 
edge, Napoleon  had  the  good  of  France  at  heart.  He  set 
his  best  lawyers  to  work  arranging  the  laws  of  the  land. 
These  were  simplified  and  condensed  into  what  is  called  the 
Code  Napoleon,  and  France  still  enjoys  the  benefit  of  this 
valued  legacy.  Every  department  of  government  received 
its  portion  of  care  ;  public  instruction,  the  administration  of 
justice,  commerce,  industry,  roads,  courts,  arsenals,  were 
placed  on  an  excellent  footing,  and  the  Legion  of  Honor 
became  the  first  step  towards  the  creation  of  a  nobility. 

372,  It  was  England  that  again  provoked  hostilities,  by 
issuing  letters  of  marque,  and  imposing  an  Hostilities  re- 
embargo  on  all  French  vessels  in  English  "ewed. 
ports  (May,  1803).  Napoleon,  in  retaliation,  seized  upon 
all  English  and  Dutch  subjects  sojourning  in  the  territories 
of  the  Republic.  In  the  months  of  May  and  June  the 
French  armies  took  possession  of  Hanover,  and  menaced 
England  with  invasion.  Russia  and  Austria  then  coalesced 
with  England. 

373.  Napoleon,  taking  advantage  of  this  crisis,  contrived 
with  admirable  diplomacy  to  have  himself  so-  Napoleon  Em- 
licited  by  the  senate  to  exchange  the  Consul-  p^'"°''- 

ship  for  the  Imperial  Crown.  On  the  i8th  of  May,  1804,  a  de- 
cree was  passed  giving  him  the  title  of  Emperor,  and  this  ele- 
vation was  ratified  by  the  popular  vote  of  France,  only  about 
4000  names  being  recorded  against  it.  The  Pope,  Pius 
"V  JI.,  was  invited  to  France  to  crown  the  newly  elected  Em- 
peror. At  Notre  Dame,  on  the  2d  of  December,  1804,  the 
ceremony  of  coronation  was  performed.  The  Pope  blessed 
the  crown,  and  Napoleon,  taking  it  from  the  altar,  placed  it 
^h  his  own  head.  He  next  passed  into  Italy,  similarly  to 
ratify  his  royal  authority,  and  in  May,  1805,  v/as  proclaimed 


450  MODERN  HISTORY. 

King  of  Italy,  and  was  crowned  at  Milan  with  the  iron 
crown  of  the  Lombards. 

374-  In  order  to  break  the  force  of  the  English,  Austrian, 
His  plan  of  ^^d  Russian  coalition,  the  Emperor  Napoleon, 
campaign.  jj^  jj^g  spring  of  1805,  formed  a  prodigious  plan 
of  campaign.  It  was  to  begin  with  the  invasion  of  England, 
for  which  immense  preparations  were  made  at  Boulogne. 

375.  While  these  were  still  going  on,  Napoleon  heard 
Operations  in  that  the  Austrian  army,  200,000  strong,  was 
Germany.  moving  towards  the  Rhine,  and  that  the  Russian 
army  was  on  the  march  to  join  it.  He  immediately  left 
Boulogne,  and  crossing  the  Rhine  with  an  army  of  160,000 
men,  advanced  to  Ulm,  where  he  forced  the  Austrian  Gen- 
eral Mack  to  surrender  with  30,000  men  (October,  1805). 
A  few  days  afterward  he  entered  Vienna  in  triumph.  Pass- 
ing beyond  the  capital  to  Aus'terlitz  he  gave  battle  to  the 
united  Austrians  and  Russians,  whom  he  utterly  defeated, 
inflicting  on  them  a  loss  of  15,000  dead,  20,000  prisoners, 
forty  standards,  and  two  hundred  pieces  of  artillery,  De- 
cember 2,  1805.  The  next  day  Francis  II.  of  Austria 
came  to  the  tent  of  Napoleon  to  ask  for  peace.  The 
request  was  acceded  to,  and  a  treaty  was  made  ;  but  it  cost 
the  House  of  Hapsburg  the  loss  of  twent}'  thousand  square 
miles  of  territory,  and  two  millions  and  a  half  of  subjects. 

376.  In  the  mean  time  an  event  had  happened  that  for- 

ever put  a  stop  to  Napoleon's  design  of  invad- 
gar.  .^^  England.    The  fleet  which  the  Emperor  had 

counted  on  to  protect  his  transports  in  crossing  to  England 
was  chased  up  and  down  the  seas  by  the  British,  and  finally, 
with  the  ships  of  his  ally,  Spain,  was  blockaded  in  Ca'diz. 
Lord  Nelson  lay  hard  by,  watching  them,  and  when,  three 
weeks  after  Napoleon  crossed  the  Rhine,  the  French  and 
Spanish  fleets  came  out,  he  attacked  them  off  Cape  Tra- 
falgar' (October  21,  1805),  and  annihilated  them.  Nelson 
died  in  the   arms    of  victory,   the    French  Admiral  Ville- 


THE   CONSULATE  AND    THE  EMPIRE.  45 1 

neuve  committed   suicide,   and  Napoleon   never  again  at- 
tempted to  dispute  the  dominion  of  the  sea  with  England. 

377.  This  was  a  severe  blow,  but  the  fruits  of  Napoleon's 
own  wonderful  victories  in  Germany  remained,  changes  in 
A.nd  one  result  of  his  triumph  was  a  great  Germany, 
change  in  the  Constitution  of  Germany  itself.  Napoleon 
iraised  the  Electors  of  Bavaria  and  Wiirtemberg  to  the  rank 
of  Kings ;  and  in  the  following  year  (1806)  the  Kings  of 
Bavaria  and  Wiirtemberg,  the  Elector  of  Baden,  the  Land- 
grave of  Hesse  and  the  princes  formally  declared  themselves 
separated  from  the  German  Empire.  They  were  formed 
into  a  league  called  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  with 
Napoleon  as  their  "protector,"  and  undertook  to' aid  him 
in  war  with  an  army  of  60,000  men.  Francis  II.  re- 
signed the  Imperial  Crown  in  the  same  year  (August  6), 
taking  the  title  of  Emperor  of  Austria,  so  that  Germany  was 
no  longer,  even  in  name,  a  united  state  acknowledging  a 
common  head.  Thus  \\.  was  that  the  "  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire." came  to  an  end. 

378.  At  this  time  Napoleon  began  to  give  away  king- 
doms. Seizing  Naples  early  in  1806,  he  made  Napoleon  as  a 
his  brother  Joseph  king.  Turning  the  Neth-  ^ing-maker. 
erlands  ("  Batavian  Republic  ")  into  the  Kingdom  of  Hol- 
land, he  placed  its  crown  on  the  head  of  his  brother 
Louis.* 

379.  In  the  struggle  of  Germany  with  Napoleon,  Prussia 
had  hitherto,  out  of  selfish  motives,  taken  no  Napoleon  in- 
part.  But  its  turn  now  came.  By  gross  in-  ^ades  Prussia, 
suits  Napoleon  stung  the  Prussian  King,  Frederick  William 
III.,  into  war,  when  Prussia  was  most  unfit  for  a  strug- 
gle. Then  he  threw  forward  his  armies  with  his  usual  mar- 
velous promptitude,  and  in  two  great  battles,  —  Auerstadt 
\our'stat'\  and  Jena  \yea'nd\  —  fought  upon    the  same   day 

*  The  father  of  the  late  Emperor  Napoleon  III.  (Louis  Napoleon). 


452  MODERN  HISTORY. 


(October  14,  1806),  he  utterly  crushed  the  military  powei 
with  which,  but  half  a  century  ago,  the  Great  Frederick  had 
wrought  such  marvels.  Prussia  lay  writhing  at  his  feet, 
and  Bonaparte  entered  Berlin  in  triumph. 

380.  What  remained  of  the  Prussian  army  nov;  joined 
Eyiau  and  the  Russians  on  the  Prussian  frontier.  At 
lena.  Eylau  \i' loii^  (Februar}^,  1807)  a  battle  was 
fought  of  which  nothing  in  particular  came.  But  in  June  of 
the  same  year  there  was  another  battle,  fought  at  Friedland, 
in  regard  to  the  results  of  which  there  could  be  no  doubt, 
for  the  Russians  were  defeated  with  a  loss  of  60,000  men. 
The  Czar  now  sued  for  peace,  which  was  made  by  the  Treaty 
of  Tilsit  (July,  1807). 

381.  The  terms  of  peace  were  terribly  severe  to  Prussia  : 

she   had  to   resign    Saxony,  Westphalia,   and 

Terms  of  peace.  _  .  -r-,    i        i  i      i  ■       i  • 

Prussian  Poland ;  and  the  conqueror,  m  his 
character  of  king-maker,  elevated  his  third  brother,  Jerome, 
to  the  crown  of  the  newly  formed  Kingdovi  of  Westphalia. 

382.  The  reaction  now  began.  Having  driven  the  royal 
Beginning  of  House  of  Bragan'za  from  Portugal  to  Brazil, 
reaction.  ^^^  having  dcposcd  the  Bourbons  from  the 
throne  of  Spain,  he  set  up  his  brother  Joseph,  in  place  of 
the  latter,  as  King  of  Spain.  Murat  was  promoted  to  fill 
Joseph's  vacant  throne  at  Naples.  This  appropriation  of 
Spain  was  the  commencement  of  a  struggle  in  which  the 
British,  under  Wellington,  first  assumed  an  important  part 
in  the  military  operations  of  Europe.  Joseph  was  driven 
out  of  Madrid,  and  the  French  were  compelled  to  evacuate 
Portugal.  These  reverses  compelled  Napoleon  to  take  the 
field  in  person,  and  his  genius  soon  restored  the  French 
prestige  in  the  Peninsula  (1808).  But  no  sooner  had  he 
conquered  in  one  direction  than  he  was  menaced  in  an- 
other. He  had  conquered  all  Europe,  and  all  Europe  was 
arrayed  against  him.  It  was  Austria  this  time  that  men 
aced  his  power. 


THE   CONSULATE  AND    THE  EMPIRE.  453 

383.  Austria  had  never  looked  on  the  result  of  the  battle 
of  Austerlitz  as  final,  and  was  resolved  to  re-  The  Wagram 
cover  her  lost  territory.  So,  while  Napoleon  campaign, 
was  occupied  in  Spain,  the  Emperor,  Francis  II.  of  Austriaj 
mustered  half  a  million  soldiers,  and  committed  the  com- 
mand to  the  Archduke  Charles.  On  the  receipt  of  this  in- 
telligence, Napoleon  quitted  Spain  and  took  the  command 
on  the  Danube  (May,  1809).  Combats  took  place  at  As- 
pern  and  Essling,  which  on  the  whole  were  favorable  to  the 
Austrians;  but  in  the  decisive  battle  at  Wagram  (July  5, 
1809)  Napoleon  was  completely  successful,  and  Austria 
purchased  peace  by  a  large  surrender  of  territory. 

384.  The  treaty  of  peace,  called  the  Peace  of  Vienna  (1809), 
was  followed  by  negotiations  for  the  hand  of   The  Austrian 
Maria  Louisa,  Archduchess  of  Austria  ;  and   carriage. 

in  the  following  year.  Napoleon,  having  divorced  the  faith- 
ful Josephine,  married  that  princess.  His  hope  in  this 
marriage  was,  that  an  heir  might  be  born  to  him,  and  this 
hope  was  realized  in  the  birth  of  a  son,  afterwards  known 
as  the  Duke  of  Reichstadt.* 

385.  In  the  year  181 1   Napoleon  was  at  the  height  of 
his  power,  and  his  position  at  this  time  is  well   Napoleon 

Pn,  T-,  IT-.-  touches  the 

worth  markmg.  The  French  Empire  over  zenith, 
which  he  ruled  extended  from  the  borders  of  Denmark  to 
those  of  Naples.  Holland,  Naples,  and  Westphalia  were 
ruled  by  his  kinsmen.  His  brother  Joseph  was  on  the 
throne  of  Spain,  though  not  very  secure  there.  Bernadotte, 
one  of  his  generals,  had  been  chosen  Crown  Prince  of 
Sweden.  As  Protector  of  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine 
he  held  the  German  states  in  subjection,  as  he  did  also  the 
Helvetic  Confederation,  into  which  he  had  formed  the  can- 
tons of  Switzerland  ;  Austria  and  Prussia  crouched  at  his 
feet,  and  Russia  seemed  his  firm  ally.     Yet  in  a  short  time 

*  See  p.  468. 


454  MODERN  HISTORY. 


all  this  was  changed.  "  The  magician's  wand  was  broken, 
and  his  magnificent  theater  of  action  had  sunk  into  a  little 
house  and  garden  far  out  in  the  tropic  sea." 

386.  The  beginning  of  Napoleon's  disasters  was  the  war 
Invasion  of  which  he  Commenced  with  Russia  in  18 12. 
Russia.  'pj^jg  arose  out  of  Napoleon's  dissatisfaction  at 
the  Czar's  having  opened  his  ports  to  British  goods.  As 
usual,  Napoleon  assumed  the  aggressive.  Assembling  a  vast 
army,  he  crossed  the  NiemenQune,  i8i2)with  500,000  men, 
and  headed  his  columns  towards  Moscow.  The  Russians 
gave  battle  at  Borodino  (September  7),  and  were  defeated, 
but  fell  back  in  good  order  towards  Moscow,  —  the  Russian 
strategy  being  to  lure  Napoleon  into  the  interior  of  the 
country. 

387.  On  the  14th  of  September  the  French  entered  the 
The  French  ancicut  Capital  of  Russia,  and  beheld  the  tow- 
in  Moscow.  gj-g  q£  j-j^g  Kremlin  and  the  fantastic  spires 
of  Moscow.  But  when  they  entered  the  city,  it  was  silent 
and  empty,  —  an  enchanted  city,  and  all  their  own.  Exult- 
ing in  their  plunder  and  security,  they  spread  hither  and 
thither,  and  proceeded  to  pass  the  night  in  revelry.  But  in 
the  midst  of  their  merriment  the  city  was  found  to  be  in 
flames.  The  Russians,  knowing  no  other  means  by  which 
to  deprive  their  foes  of  winter-quarters  and  provisions,  had 
set  fire  to  their  ancient  and  beautiful  capital,  which  after 
four  days  sank  into  a  heap  of  ashes,  leaving  the  conquering 
legions  alone  with  famine  and  desolation. 

388.  Retreat  was  all  that  now  remained  for  the  Emperor. 

It  began  on  the  loth  of  October.     We  shall 

Xhe  retreat. 

not  describe  the  horrors  of  this  journey,  in 
which  the  French  were  perpetually  harassed  by  flying  bodies 
of  Cossacks,  were  starved,  were  frozen,  and  were  left  to  die 
by  the  wayside.  It  is  calculated  that  125,000  perished  in 
battle  ;  that  130,000  died  of  fatigue,  hunger,  and  cold  ;  and 
that  190,000  were  made  prisoners. 


■  THE   CONSULATE  AND    THE  EMPIRE.  455 

389.  At  Smorgonoi  (December  5)  Napoleon  abandoned 
the  wretched  phantom  of  the  grand  army  and  Events  to  bat- 
set  out  in  a  sledge  for  Paris,  which  he  reached  *'*  °^  Leipsic. 
on  the  1 8th.  He  knew  that  the  struggle  was  to  be  one  of 
life  and  death.  All  the  powers  of  Europe  now  combined 
against  him.  In  the  Peninsula  Wellington  had  in  the 
mean  time  defeated  Napoleon's  marshals  and  had  entered 
the  South  of  France.  Nevertheless,  the  Emperor  was  still 
far  from  despairing.  With  incredible  energy  he  marshaled 
a  fresh  army,  and  marched  to  the  banks  of  the  Elbe.  He 
defeated  the  Prussians  and  Russians  at  Liitzen,  and  again 
at  Bautzen,  in  May,  18 13.  But  these  victories  were  of 
little  use  to  stem  the  great  tide  of  enemies  which  had  set  in 
towards  Paris,  for  the  Austrians  and  the  Bavarians  had 
joined  the  coalition  against  him.  Battle  after  battle  was 
fought,  until  he  made  his  final  stand  at  Leipsic.  The  com- 
bat there  was  a  crushing  defeat  to  Napoleon,  who  lost  up- 
wards of  70,000  men  (October  16-18,  1813). 

390.  The  great   allied   host  was   now  advancing  m  all 
directions    towards    the    frontiers    of    France.    Events  up  to 
Napoleon  summoned  all  his  energies  to  meet   ^"^^• 

the  crisis,  and  amazed  his  enemies  by  the  rapidity  of  his 
movements  and  the  fertility  of  his  resources.  At  last  he 
made  a  false  move  :  he  dashed  to  the  rear  of  the  allies,  in 
the  hope  that  they  would  retreat  in  terror ;  but  instead  of 
this  they  marched  direct  upon  Paris,  which  was  surrendered 
without  a  struggle  (March  31,  18 14).  Napoleon,  who  came 
up  too  late  to  save  his  capital,  rode  away  to  Fontainebleau 
\fon-iam-bId'\  Two  days  afterward  he  was  deposed  by  a 
decree  of  the  senate  ;  on  the  4th  of  April  he  signed  his 
abdication,  and  on  the  20th  he  set  out  for  the  little  island 
of  Elba,  which  was  now  to  be  all  the  sovereignty  of  the 
once  mighty  potentate. 

391.  The  Bourbon  Dynasty  was  now  restored  in  the 
person  of  I>ouis  XVIII.,  the  brother  of  the  guillotined  king. 


456  MODERN  HISTORY. 

But  Louis  XVIII.  was  indeed  a  Bourbon,  —  "one  who  forgot 
The  Bourbon  nothing  and  who  learned  nothing."  Indeed,  so 
Restoration.  unpopular  did  he  make  himself,  that  soon  all 
hearts  began  to  turn  once  more  to  the  exile  of  Elba.  And 
he  was  now  to  startle  Europe  with  a  new  appearance  on 
the  stage. 

392.  After  ten  months  in  Elba,  Napoleon  escaped. 
Napoleon's  Landing  near  Cannes  \ca7i\  he  pushed  on  to 
reappearance.  Paris,  being  joined  by  a  small  body  of  troops, 
and  reached  the  capital  without  faring  a  shot.  Louis  XVIII. 
fled  to  Ghent.  At  this  time  a  congress  was  sitting  at 
Vienna,  and  the  task  of  reconstructing  the  map  of  Europe, 
so  roughly  disturbed  by  Napoleon,  was  going  merrily  on 
when  the  news  came.  The  news  is  said  to  have  been 
greeted  by  the  assembled  diplomatists  first  with  a  silent 
stare  of  incredulity  and  then  with  a  roar  of  laughter. 

393.  But  Napoleon  was  in  Paris,  levying  troops  ;  action 
Progress  of  must  be  prompt  and  decisive.  The  allies 
events.  immediately  declared  Bonaparte  an  outlaw, 
and  poured  their  armies  toward  France.  Resolving  to  deal 
first  with  the  enemies  nearest  to  him.  Napoleon  invaded 
Belgium,  where  lay  the  English  and  Prussians  under  Wel- 
lington and  Blucher. 

394.  The  result  of   this  campaign  is   told  in   a  single 

word,  —  Waterloo  !      This   decisive    combat 

Waterloo.  ,    '  ,  „  ,         ,    ,n 

took  place  on  the  i8th  of  June,  181 5.  It 
was  an  overwhelming  defeat  to  the  French,  and  Napoleon 
hastened  to  Paris  to  announce  that  all  was  lost. 

395.  On  his  arrival  he  found  himself  no  longer  treated 
Abdication  and  3.S  a  Sovereign  :  his  star  had  set,  and  as  in  his 
surrender.  grandeur  he  had  made  the  best  interests  and 
liberties  of  France  subservient  to  his  own  glor}'^,  so  now  he 
was  cast  aside  that  the  nation  might  be  cared  for.  On  the 
22d  of  June  he  signed  his  second  abdication,  and  the  allies, 
entering  Paris  on  the  7th  of  July,  remstated  Louis  XVIIL 


THE   CONSULATE  AND    THE  EMPIRE. 


457 


as  King  of  France.  Napoleon  now  sought  to  escape  to 
the  United  States  ;  but  this  he  could  not  do,  as  the  British 
cruisers  watched  all  the  coast.  On  the  15th  of  July  he 
went  on  board  a  British  ship,  having  previously  written  to 
the  Prince  Regent  of  England,  to  say  that  "  he  came  like 
Themistocles  to  claim  the  hospitality  of  the  British  people, 
and  the  protection  of  their  laws." 

396.  But  the  British  government  regarded  him  as  a  tiger 
who  was  better  chained  than  tree,  and  orders  st.  Helena 
were  sent  to  carry  him  to  St.  Helena.  The  *"■*  death, 
ship  reached  the  lonely  rock  in  October,  1815,  and  there 
he  lived  for  six  years.  His  death  took  place  May  5,  182 1  ; 
and  his  last  words,  as  he  lay  dying  amid  the  crash  and 
glare  of  a  tropical  thunder-storm  were,  Tete  d^armee  > 
("  Head  of  the  army  !  ") 

397.  The  character  of   Napoleon    Bonaparte   has   been 
matter  of  great  discussion  and  of  most  opposed 

.    .  J    ii  •  M  •  •  1        His  character. 

opmion ;  and  this  necessarily  so,  since,  in  the 
judgment  of  lives,  men  differ  so  widely  in  their  basis  of 
judgment.     Viewed  purely  from  an  intellectual  standpoint, 
as  a  man  accomplishing  world- 
ly ends  by  worldly  arts,  —  by 
generalship,  by  faculty  of  com- 
bination, by  administrative  gen- 
ius,—  he  was  undoubtedly  the 
greatest  that  ever  lived.      But 
as   a  character  he  was  neither 
good  nor  in  the  highest  sense 
great ;    for   he    was   not    great 
enough  to  be  above  self.     We 

can  only  say  that  the  work  he 

111        1  ,    ,  Napoleon. 

did  needed  to  be  done,  and  let 

the  verdict  go  at  that.     For  the  rest,  never  has  the  world 

seen  ambition  so  brilliant  in    its  success,  so  tragic  in  its 

fall. 


45 8  MODERN  HISTORY. 


1.     MODERN   ENGLISH    POLITICS. 

398.  At  the  time  when  peace  came  to  Europe,  after  the 
George  III.  long  Napoleonic  wars,  George  III.,  whose  reign 
and  George  IV.  began  far  back  in  the  previous  century,  was 
still  alive  ;  but  he  did  not  rule.  Long  prone  to  insanity, 
his  mind  had  given  way  in  18 10,  and  the  appointment  of  a 
Regent  had  become  necessary.  This  office  devolved  upon 
his  eldest  son,  who  held  it  until  the  death  of  the  poor  old 
blind,  crazy  king,  in  1820,  when  he  ascended  the  throne  as 
George  IV.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  man  of  consider- 
able ability ;  and  from  his  fine  person  and  polished  man- 
ners he  was  called  by  his  flatterers  the  "  first  gentleman  in 
Europe  "  ;  but  if  to  be  a  gentleman  one  must  lead  a  decent 
life  and  have  a  feeling  heart,  then  this  king  deserves  not 
the  name. 

399.  After  the  battle  of  Waterloo  the  sovereigns  of 
England  and  Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia  entered  into  what 
liance.  Is  Called  the  Holy  Alliance,  by  which  they 
bound  themselves  "  to  aid  one  another,  in  conformity  with 
Holy  Scripture,  on  every  occasion."  By  this  high-sounding 
profession  they  seem  to  have  meant  no  more  than  that 
they  would  crush  the  desire  for  liberty  and  reform  which 
began  to  show  itself  in  the  several  countries.  France  also 
joined  the  alliance  ;  but  England,  suspecting  that  its  object 
was  the  maintenance  of  despotic  government,  refused  to 
assent  to  the  principle  of  interference  with  the  internal 
affairs  of  other  states. 

400.  The  most  important  political  event  of  George  IV.'s 
A  step  in  reign  was  the  removal  of  certain  grievous  dis- 
progress.  abilities  under  which  all  persons  who  did  not 
belong  to  the  Church  of  England  labored.  These  affected 
both  Catholics  and  Protestant  dissenters.  The  restriction 
which  required  all  persons  taking  office  to  commune 
according    to    the   rites   of    the    Established   Church   was 


MODERN  ENGLISH  POLITICS.  459 

removed  in  1828  ;  but  many  grievous  laws  yet  remained  in 
force  against  Catholics,  who  were  shut  out  from  Parliament 
and  from  many  offices,  franchises,  and  civil  rights. 

401.  In  Ireland  there  arose  a  great  agitation  for  the  re- 
peal of  these  laws,  and  early  in  the  reign  justice  to 
Daniel  O'Connell,  an  Irish  barrister  of  great  Catholics, 
eloquence,  organized  the  Catholic  Association^  for  the  pur- 
pose of  pushing  the  question  of  emancipation.  The  sub- 
ject was  frequently  debated  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
motions  in  its  favor  were  carried ;  but  the  House  of  Lords- 
would  not  sanction  the  repeal  of  the  penal  laws.  The  ex- 
citement became  intense,  and  the  Catholic  Association 
elected  O'Connell  to  a  seat  in  Parliament.  So  well  did  he 
■fight  the  battle  of  his  Church,  that  a  bill  was  passed  remov- 
ing all  penal  laws  against  Catholics,  and  placing  them 
on  the  same  political  footing  as  Protestant  subjects.  The 
Duke  of  Wellington,  who  was  at  that  time  Prime  Minister, 
avowed  in  the  House  of  Lords  that  he  had  brought  forward 
the  measure  in  order  to  avert  civil  w^ar.  The  bill  received 
the  royal  assent  in  April,  1829.     Next  year  the  king  died. 

402.  George  IV.  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  William 
Henry,  Duke  of  Clarence,  who  ascended  the    Accession  of 
throne   as   William    IV.      He   reigned   seven   wiiuam  iv. 
years,  that  is,  till  1837. 

403.  At  the  time  of  William's  accession,  the  great  ques- 
tion of  Parliamentary  Reform  agitated  the  peo-  Abuses  of  Par- 

1  -r  *U  U    J  U  liamentary 

pie.  For  many  years  there  had  been  a  grow-  representation, 
ing  demand  for  a  change  in  Parliamentary  representation, 
and  certainly  such  a  change  was  greatly  needed.  Many 
towns,  such  as  Liverpool  and  Manchester,  which  contained 
a  teeming  population,  were  without  representation  at  all, 
while  many  small  and  insignificant  places  returned  to  Par- 
liament one  or  more  members.  In  such  boroughs,  known 
as  "pocket"  or  "rotten"  boroughs,  the  property  was  in 
most  instances  in  the  hands  of  some  one  large  owner,  by 


460  MODERN  HISTORY. 

whom  the  elections  were  controlled.  The  laige  centers  of 
population,  unrepresented  in  the  national  legislature,  could 
no  longer  suffer  this  state  of  things  to  continue,  and  loudly 
demanded  Parliamentary  reform. 

404.  The  celebrated  Reform  Bill  was  brought  into  Par- 
Passage  of  the  Hament  in  March,  183 1,  by  Lord  John  RusseU. 
Reform  Bill.  -pj^g  ^^q  parties  in  the  House  of  Commons 
were  so  evenly  balanced,  that  another  appeal  was  made  to 
the  country,  and  a  new  House  of  Commons  was  returned, 
pledged  to  carry  "the  Bill."  After  a  desperate  struggle 
the  measure  was  passed  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  a 
large  majority,  but  it  was  thrown  out  in  the  Lords.  This 
caused  great  excitement  throughout  the  country,  and  riots 
broke  out  in  many  places.  On  the  assembling  of  Parlia- 
ment the  following  year,  1832,  the  Reform  Bill  was  again 
introduced,  and  passed  the  Lower  House  ;  and  on  finding 
both  the  Crown  and  the  people  against  them,  the  Lords 
were  induced  to  give  up  their  opposition  to  the  measure. 

405.  By  this  Act  three  great  changes  were  made  :  i.  Fifty- 
Changes  it  six  of  the  pocket  boroughs  were  disfranchised  ; 
effected.  2.  Several  towns  which  had  sprung,  during  the 
last  centur}',  into  first-class  cities,  now  for  the  first  time  re- 
ceived the  right  of  sending  members  to  Parliament  ;  3.  The 
franchise,  or  right  of  voting,  was  extended  more  widely 
among  the  middle  classes.  The  right  of  voting  for  towns 
was  given  to  the  tenants  of  houses  worth  ;^  i  o  a  year  or 
upwards  ;  for  county  members  all  were  entitled  to  vote  who 
owned  land  worth  ;^  lo  a  year,  or  who  paid  an  annual 
rental   of  £  50. 

406.  When  the  Reform  Parliament  met  in  the  following 
Abolition  year,  183-5,   it   justified  the  best  hopes  of  its 

of  colonial  r  •       j      ^  .      •  r      •  j 

slavery.  fnends  by  entering  upon  a  course  of  wise  and 

liberal  legislation.  One  of  the  most  important  of  its  acts 
was  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  British  colonies.  The 
merit  of  this  work  is  mainly  due  to  William  Wilberforce, 


MODERN  ENGLISH  POLITICS.  46 1 

who  for  many  years  had  devoted  himself  to  the  question  of 
Emancipation.  For  the  800,000  slaves  who  thus  received 
their  freedom,  a  compensation  of  £  20,000,000  was  paid  to 
their  masters. 

407.  William  IV.  died  in  1837,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Alexandrina  Victoria,  daughter  of  his  brother,   Accession  of 
Edward  Duke  of  Kent.    She  was  then  eighteen   Victoria, 
years  of  age,  and  three  years  afterward  was  married  to  her 
cousin.  Prince  Albert,  of  Saxe-Coburg  and  Gotha. 

408.  The  most  important  political  event  during  the  early 
part  of  this  reign  was  the  Repeal  of  the  Corn  Repeal  of  the 
La7vs,  These  were  laws  imposing  heavy  duties  ^"""^  ^^'^3- 
upon  the  importation  of  foreign  grain.  All  who  lived  by 
agriculture  —  the  land-owners,  the  farmers,  and  the  laboring 
classes  —  wished  to  keep  foreign  grain  out  of  the  market,  in 
the  belief  that  it  was  their  interest,  by  high  duties,  to  prated 
home  agriculture.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who  held  free- 
trade  doctrines  argued  that  every  man  and  nation  should 
be  free  to  buy  in  the  cheapest  and  sell  in  the  dearest  mar- 
ket, and  that  all  protective  restrictions  were  futile.  In 
1839  a  number  of  these  men,  of  whom  Richard  Cobden 
was  the  most  prominent,  formed  what  was  called  the  Anti- 
Corn-Law  League.  By  vigorous  agitation  the  cause  tri- 
umphed in  1846,  when  bills  were  carried  through  Parlia- 
ment for  abolishing  or  reducing  to  a  merely  nominal 
amount  the  duties  on  grain,  cattle,  and  other  productions. 

409.  About   the    same  time    the    English   people   were 
ereatlv   stirred   up   by    what   was   called   the   ^^   ^^    ^.  ^ 

o  •'  >■         J  The  Chartists. 

Chartist  agitation.  The  Chartists  were  for  the 
most  part  workingmen,  and  took  their  name  from  their 
People's  Charter.,  —  a  document  in  which  they  demanded 
six  changes  in  the  Constitution:  i.  Universal  suffrage; 
2.  Vote  by  ballot ;  3.  Annual  Parliaments  ;  4.  Electoral  dis- 
tricts ;  5.  The  abolition  of  property  qualification  for  mem- 
bers ;   6.  The   payment  of   Parliamentary  representatives, 


462  MODERN'  nrSTORY. 

After  some  rioting  in  1839  the  Chartists  remained  tolerably 
quiet  until  1848,  when,  excited  by  the  revolutions  that  took 
place  during  that  year  in  France  and  other  parts  of  the 
Continent,  they  determined  to  show  their  strength. 

410.  On  Kensington  Common,  20,000  of  them  assem- 
How  they  bled,  for  the  purpose  of  walking  in  procession 
down.  through  London  to  the  House  of  Commons, 
there  to  present  a  monster  petition  in  favor  of  their  claims. 
Why  they  should  have  been  prevented  from  doing  so,  if 
they  broke  no  law,  it  is  not  easy  for  us  in  this  country  to 
see ;  for  with  us  every  one  of  the  six  points  in  their  Peoples 
Charter  is  a  part  of  the  organic  law  of  the  land.  However, 
the  government  took  alarm,  and  appealed  to  the  people. 
The  result  was  that  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  Londoners 
enrolled  themselves  as  special  constables  to  prevent  the 
dreadful  "  red  republican "  demonstration.  The  affair, 
however,  passed  off  without  any  trouble:  the  Chartists 
were  not  allowed  to  recross  the  bridges  in  procession,  and 
there  the  matter  came  to  an  end.  From  this  time  the 
Chartists  ceased  to  be  of  any  importance  as  an  organized 
body,  but  their  work  was  of  value  in  educating  the  public 
mind,  and  what  they  did  bore  fruit  \  for,  as  we  shall  see, 
most  of  the  reforms  for  which  they  contended  have  since 
become  law. 

411.  Since  Waterloo  there  had  been  no  great  European 

war,  but  the  year  18 "^4  was  signalized  by  the 

Crimean  W^ar.  i  ,         r 

outbreak  of  the  Crimean  War.  This  arose 
from  the  fact  that  the  Czar  of  Russia,  Nicholas,  disturbed 
the  balance  of  power  by  seizing  the  Turkish  Principalities 
of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia.  Great  Britain  and  France, 
afterwards  joined  by  the  King  of  Sardinia,  formed  an  alli- 
ance in  aid  of  the  Sultan,  and  engaged  in  a  war  with  Rus- 
sia, which  was  carried  on  mainly  in  the  Crimea.  The  chief 
actions  were  the  victories  of  the  Alma,  September,  1854, 
and  of  Inkerman',  November,  1854.    The  allied  armies  then 


REVOLUTIONS  IN  FRENCH  POLITICS.  463 

invested  Sebastopol.  The  siege  lasted  349  days,  at  the 
end  of  which  time  the  place  was  evacuated  by  the  Russians, 
in  September,  1855  ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  following  year 
peace  was  made. 

412.  Since  this  time  England  has  been  engaged  in  no 
considerable  war,  and  the  history  of  the  coun-  Later  English 
try  has  been  one  of  steady  internal  develop-  P°'>tics. 
ment.  That  slow  but  sure  progress  in  political  reform 
which  characterizes  the  English  has  been  going  on  all  the 
time.  In  accordance  with  a  prevalent  desire  for  further 
Parliamentary  improvements,  a  new  Reform  Bill  was  in 
1867  brought  in  and  carried  by  the  Tory,  or  Conservative, 
Ministry  then  in  power,  the  chiefs  of  which  were  the  Earl 
of  Derby  and  Mr.  Disraeli.  By  this  the  right  of  franchise 
was  greatly  extended.  In  1869  and  1870  important  changes 
were  made  in  Ireland,  by  measures  carried  by  the  liberal 
ministry  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Gladstone.  By  one 
act  the  Irish  Church  was  disestablished  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  the  church  of  the  minority  of  the  Irish  people,  —  a 
measure  of  justice  to  the  Catholics.  By  an  act  passed  in 
1872  votes  in  Parliamentary  elections  are  now  given  by  bal- 
lot, instead  of  open  voting  as  heretofore.  This  was  one  of 
the  fundamental  desires  of  the  Chartists,  and  brings  the 
English  political  system  still  nearer  to  our  own. 

3.     REVOLUTIONS  IN   FRENCH    POLITICS.* 

413.  The  modern  history  of  France  presents  a  striking 
contrast  to   that  of  England.       Reform  —  the  Character  of 

?     .  .     .  ,  -  modern  French 

gradual  improvement  of  the  existmg  order  of  politics, 
things  —  has    been    the    watchv/ord    in    England ;    but   in 
France,  since  Napoleon   I.,  the  people  have  been  able  to 
effect  changes  only  by  Revolution. 

414.  Louis  XVIII.*  was  fifty-nine  years  of  age  when  he 

*  Louis  XVIII.  was  brother  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  uncle  of  the  Dauphin 
(son  of  Louis  XVI.),  who  would  have  been  Louis  XVII. ;  but  he  died 
when  &  lad,  owinj;  to  his  cruel  treatment  during  the  Revolution. 


464  MODERN  HISTORY. 


was  restored  to  the  throne  of  his  fathers.  Weary  of  strife, 
Reign  of  exhausted  alike  in  her  finances  and  in  her  pop- 

Louis  XVIII.  ulation,  France  now  enjoyed  tranquillity,  and 
slumbered  contentedly  beneath  the  inoffensive  government 
of  her  new  sovereign.  He  was  a  man  of  easy  temper,  un- 
wieldy person,  and  mediocre  capacity.  He  desired  sincerely 
enough  the  good  of  his  people,  and  wished  to  rule  as  a 
constitutional  king.  But  there  were  those  around  him  who 
desired  nothing  so  much  as  the  restoration  of  the  old  despotic 
regime  of  Louis  XIV. ;  and  among  these  the  greatest  reac- 
tionist was  the  king's  brother,  the  Count  d'Artois  \ar-iwa% 
who  became  king  with  the  title  of  Charles  X.,  on  the  death 
of  Louis  XVIIL,  in  1824. 

415.  Witli  Charles  X.  absolutism  set  in.  He  had  as 
Despotic  acts  Strong  a  mania  for  despotic  rule  as  ever  pos- 
of  Charles  X.  scsscd  the  English  Stuarts,  and  was  unable, 
poor  blind  man,  to  read  the  terrible  lesson  which  he  should 
have  learned  when  his  brother's  head  rolled  from  the  guil- 
lotine block.  In  1827  he  disbanded  the  Civic  Guard.  In 
1830,  aided  by  a  minister  as  blind  and  foolish  as  himself,  he 
issued  three  ordinances  which  kindled  the  Second  French 
Revolution.  These  were:  i.  That  the  liberty  of  the  press 
was  suspended  ;  2.  That  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  was  dis- 
solved before  it  had  met ;  3.  That  the  elections  were  to  be 
made  by  the  Prefects,  who  were  mere  creatures  of  the  gov- 
ernment. 

416.  The  Parisians  met  these  enactments  in  a  spirited 

manner ;  there  was  a  blossoming  out  of  tricol- 
Revoiution.  ^^^^  cockadcs,  a  sudden  irruption  of  barricades 
in  the  streets,  some  brisk  fights  with  the  troops,  and  in  three 
days  (July  27,  28,  and  29,  1830)  the  people  were  masters  of 
the  city.  A  provisional  government  was  appointed ;  and  in  a 
few  days  Louis  Philippe,  of  the  House  of  Orleans,  and  cousin 
to  Charles  X.,  was  elected  King  of  the  French.  Charles 
soup-ht  refuge  abroad,  and  died  in  Austria  six  years  later. 


REVOLUTIONS  IN  FRENCH  POLITICS.  465 

417.  The  new  sovereign  was  now  fifty-seven  years  of  age*, 
he  had  known  adversity  and  privation,  had  Account  of 
been  a  refugee  in  Switzerland,  where  he  taught  ^°"'^  Philippe, 
school  for  a  while,  had  traveled  extensively  in  the  United 
States,  and  finally  settled  down  in  England,  where  he  re- 
mained till  the  downfall  of  Napoleon. 

418.  Counting  on  the  salutary  effect  of  these  his  varied 
experiences,   the  French   people   now  looked   ^.^  troubles 
forward  to  the  reign  of  Louis  Philippe  as  to  a 

period  of  genuine  freedom.  Yet  the  position  of  the  Citizen- 
King,  as  he  was  called,  was  a  difficult  and  delicate  one, 
for  he  was  between  two  extreme  parties,  —  on  the  one 
hand  the  republicans,  on  the  other  the  partisans  of  the  old 
Bourbon  regime.  It  was  not  long  before  the  troubles  of  the 
new  reign  began,  —  troubles  at  Lyons  and  in  Paris  itself. 
Then  came  repeated  efforts  made  against  the  king's  life. 
These  things  impelled  him  to  take  several  very  foolish  steps, 
such  as  abridging  the  liberty  of  the  press  and  making  fre- 
quent prosecutions,  while  his  want  of  good  faith,  his  insa- 
tiable avarice,  and  his  lavish  expenditures  alienated  the 
moderate  men  on  whom  he  might  have  relied  for  support. 

419.  During   this   period  there  was  a  young  man  who 
made  two  separate  attempts  at  revolution  :  but   Early  exploits 

of  Louis  Na- 

these  sallies  were  of  rather  a  burlesque  charac-  poieon. 
ter,  and  had  little  other  effect  than  that  of  exciting  laughter. 
The  man  was  Louis  Napoleon,  a  nephew  of  the  Great  Na- 
poleon, and  son  of  that  Louis  Bonaparte  who  was  once 
king  of  Holland.  He  was  born  at  Paris  in  1808,  educated 
under  the  care  of  his  mother,  Hortense,  and  had  spent 
most  of  his  time  in  Switzerland,  where  he  led  a  quiet,  studious 
life.  His  one  infatuation  was  to  imitate  his  great  uncle,  and 
it  is  astonishing  how  far  he  was  ultimately  able  to  carry  the 
delusion  of  his  name.  In  1836  he  made  an  attempt  to 
excite  insurrection  at  Strasburg ;  but  it  failed,  and  he  was 
permitted  to   go  to  America.       Returning  to  Europe,   h« 


466  MODERN  HISTORY. 

made  a  fresh  effort  in  1840,  —  this  time  at  Boulogne, 
whither  he  went  from  England  with  fifty  friends  and  a  tame 
eagle.  The  troops  at  the  Boulogne  barracks,  however, 
would  not  surrender  as  he  expected,  so  his  crestfallen 
party  made  a  retreat  to  their  vessel ;  but  Louis  Napoleon 
was  arrested,  tried,  and  condemned  to  imprisonment  in  the 
fortress  of  Ham.  After  six  years  he  managed  to  escape 
in  the  dress  of  a  workman,  and  took  up  his  home  in  Eng- 
land. By  this  time  events  were  to  open  for  him  a  new 
theater  of  action. 

420.  The  murmurs  of  the  people  at  the  corruptions  of 
Revolution  of  the  government  were  growing  loud  and  deep. 
^^48.  The  king  had  become  exceedingly  unpopular. 
Meetings  of  disaffected  persons  in  what  were  called  Re- 
form Banquets  were  now  frequent  in  Paris  and  the  provin- 
cial towns.  The  working-classes  adopted  as  their  motto 
those  three  words,  fatal  to  sovereigns,  —  Liberty,  Equal- 
ity, and  Fraternity.  The  crisis  came  in  1848,  when  a 
Reform  Banquet,  appointed  to  take  place  on  Washington's 
birthday  (February  22),  was  forbidden  by  the  government. 
There  was  a  new  appearance  of  barricades  in  Paris  streets, 
and  the  citizen-king,  under  the  ver)'  bourgeois  name  of  Mr. 
Smith,  took  his  flight  to  England,  where  he  lived  till  his 
death,  two  years  afterwards. 

421.  France  was  now  a  Republic  once  more,  and  a 
The  Republic  National  Assembly  was  elected  by  universal 
and  anarchy,     suffrage,   Opening   its   scssion.   May  5,    1848. 

.  Still,  for  several  months  Paris  was  a  scene  of  anarchy.  In 
June  especially  the  tumult  rose  to  a  great  height,  and  a 
frightful  contest  began  between  the  populace,  the  troops, 
and  the  national  guard.  Paris  was  declared  in  a  state  of 
siege,  and  General  Cavaignac  v.^as  made  Dictator.  The 
city  was  not  quieted  during  a  whole  month,  and  it  is  cal- 
culated that  in  this  time  16,000  persons  were  killed  or 
wounded. 


REVOLUTIONS  JN  FRENCH  POLITICS.  467 

422.  A  new  constitution,  vesting  the  executive  power  in 
a  President  of  the  Republic,  who  should  be  xhe  new  con- 
chosen  by  all  the  peoj^le  and  should  hold  of-  ^titution. 
fice  for  four  years,  was  adopted  by  the  National  Assembly  in 
November,  1848.  Louis  Napoleon  had  returned  to  France, 
having  been  elected  a  deputy  for  the  department  of  the 
Seine.  He  stood  as  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and  in 
the  following  month  was  elected  to  the  office  by  the  votes 
of  five  millions  and  a  half  of  the  French  people. 

423.  He  never  agreed  well  with  the  Assembly,  and  it 
was  soon  manifest  that  one  or  the  other  must  The  Coup 

be  crushed.  Indeed,  it  is  quite  certain  that  ^^'^t^*- 
from  the  beginning  of  his  Presidency  he  was  busily  engaged 
in  weaving  plots  to  make  himself  master  of  France.  The 
plan  he  formed  was  what  the  French  call  a  coup  diktat 
(stroke  of  state),  which  in  this  case  meant  a  massacre  by 
military  force,  and  the  midnight  arrest  of  his  opponents. 
The  work  was  done  quietly  on  the  night  of  December  2, 
185 1, — so  quietly  that  next  morning  Paris  was  in  Louis 
Napoleon's  hands,  and  on  the  placarded  walls  men  read  a 
decree  proclaiming  that  the  Assembly  was  dissolved,  that 
universal  suffrage  was  restored,  and  that  Paris  was  under 
martial  law.  On  the  4th,  there  was  the  usual  Parisian  up- 
rising ;  but  it  was  put  down  by  the  strong  hand,  after  some 
800  of  those  who  resisted  the  usurpation  had  fallen  by  the 
bullets  of  the  soldiery.  On  the  14th  of  the  following  Jan- 
uary (1852)  a  new  constitution  placed  in  the  hands  of  Louis 
Napoleon  the  government  of  France  for  ten  years. 

424.  The  strange  success  attending  this  extraordinary 
seizure  of  power  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  Cause  of  Louia 

"^  Napoleon's 

the  fact  that  France  was  completely  demoral-  success, 
ized  by  the  long  peiiod  of  change  and   anarchy  through 
which  she  had  passed.     How  thoroughly,  by  this  time,  the 
French  had  lost  all  sense  of  real  political  liberty  is  evi- 
denced by  the  next  step  in  the  marvelous  career  of  Louis 


468  MODERN  HISTORY. 

Napoleon.  This  was  his  elevation  to  be  Emperor  by  over 
seven  millions  of  votes,  being  nearly  the  entire  vote  of 
France. 

425.  On  the  2d  of  December,  1852,  he  was  proclaimed 
Becomes  Em-  Empcror  with  the  title  of  Napoleon  III.*  On 
peror.  ^-^g  ^oth  of  January,  1853,  he  was  married  to 
Eugenie  de  Monti  jo,  a  Spanish  lady  of  Scottish  extraction 
and  ancient  birth.  The  ceremony  was  performed  with  great 
splendor  by  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  in  the  Cathedral  of 
Notre  Dame. 

426.  When  Napoleon  III.  assumed  the  Imperial  Crown, 
His  profession  he  made  an  utterance  which,  it  was  supposed, 
of  peace.  would  be  the  key  to  his  policy  :  "  The  Empire," 
said  he,  "  is  peace  "  {L Empire  c'est  la  paix).  But  indeed 
there  have  been  wars  in  Europe  ever  since,  in  which  France 
has  taken  the  chief  part. 

427.  The  year  after  his  accession,  when  there  arose  the 

quarrel  between  Russia  and  Turkey  that  re- 

His  first  war.       -^  ,    .  .  ,        ,     i     , 

suited  m  the  Crimean  War,  he  led  the  way  m 
forming  the  coalition  against  Russia.  The  nation  entered 
with  eagerness  enough  into  the  contest,  and  it  is  gen- 
erally believed,  that,  as  between  France  and  England,  the 
French  had  the  greater  share  of  glory  in  the  operations  be- 
fore Sebastopol. 

428.  In  1859  hostilities  broke  out  between  Austria 
His  second  3,nd  Sardinia.  The  French  Emperor  in  per- 
^^'■-  son  took  the  field  in  Northern  Italy  as  an  ally 
of  Sardinia.  It  was  given  out  that  he  intended  to  free 
all  Italy,  from  the  Alps  to  the  Adriatic  ;  but  though  the 
French  were  victorious  over  the  Austrians  at  Magenta  and 
Solferino,  Napoleon  III.  stopped  short  and  concluded  the 
mysterious  Peace  of  Villafranca.     It  did  not  then  appear 

*  The  putative  Napoleon  II.  was  the  son  born  to  Napoleon  I.  and 
Maria  Louisa  in  181 1.  He  never  reigned,  and  on  the  abdication  of  his 
father  was  created  Duke  of  Reichstadt  in  Austria.     He  died  in  1831. 


REVOLUTIONS  IN  FRENCH  POLITICS.  469 

that  his  conduct  was  wholly  disinterested,  for  though  by  his 
action  Lombardy  (given  up  by  the  Austrians)  was  joined 
to  Sardinia,  yet  Victor  Emanuel,  the  king  of  that  state,  had 
to  cede  to  France  the  two  provinces  of  Nice  and  Savoy. 

429.  The  last  and  greatest  of  Napoleon  III.'s  wars  was 
that   which   he   declared   against   Prussia,   in   The  German 
1870.      The    reason    which    he    assigned    for  "'^'■• 

this  act  of  aggression  was,  that  there  had  been  talk  of 
giving  the  crown  of  Spain  to  Leopold,  a  distant  kinsman 
of  the  King  of  Prussia;  but  the  real  reason  was  that  he 
was  very  jealous  of  the  greatness  of  Prussia,  which  was 
rapidly  accomplishing  the  reconstitution  of  Germany ;  and, 
besides,  he  was  desirous  of  establishing  his  waning  pop- 
ularity in  France  by  means  of  a  successful  war.  To  take 
away  all  cause  of  dispute,  Leopold,  in  July,  1870,  withdrew 
from  being  a  candidate  for  the  crown  of  Spain.  But  this 
did  not  satisfy  Napoleon,  who  asked  the  king  of  Prussia  to 
give  formal  assurances  that  Leopold  would  never  in  the 
future  accept  of  the  crown  of  Spain.  This  demand  was 
refused,  and  France  declared  war, 

430.  In  the  sketch  of  Germany  a  brief  account  will  be 
given  of  the  stupendous  struggle  which  now  summary  of 
ensued.     It  is  sufficient  for  the  present  to  say,   events. 

that  the  French  crossed  the  German  frontier,  but  were 
driven  out  in  a  few  days,  and  then  the  German  armies  en- 
tered France  and  won  a  series  of  great  victories.  Napoleon 
III.  himself  became  a  prisoner.  Paris  was  besieged,  and 
surrendered  to  the  Germans.  Meanwhile  Napoleon  III. 
was  declared  deposed,  and  a  republic  was  again  set  up 
in  France.  The  late  Emperor  retired  to  England,  where 
two  years  afterwards  he  died. 

431.  In  thus  following  down  through  the  wars  waged 
during  the  reign  of  Napoleon  III.,  we  have,  for  Material  pros- 

1  •  1      •  II,.  ,  ,•    perity  of 

the  time  being,  neglected  the  mternal  state  of  France. 
France.     The   eighteen   years   of   imperial  rule  formed  a 


470  MODERN  HISTORY. 

period  of  quite  marked  material  prosperity.  Louis  Napo- 
leon had  something  of  his  uncle's  genius  for  administrative 
details.  He  did  much  to  build  up  the  commerce  of  the 
country,  to  develop  its  railroad  system  and  its  mining 
and  manufacturing  interests,  and  to  extend  and  beautify  its 
cities.  The  French  people,  freed  for  twenty  years  from 
anarchy,  and  directed  into  industrial  channels,  became  as  a 
nation  more  practical  than  they  ever  were  before,  and  the 
material  prosperity  of  France  was  never  greater  than  under 
the  Second  Empire. 

432.  But  a  nation  pays  too  dearly  for  peace  and  material 
The  price  it  well-being  when  it  purchases  them  at  the  price 
^°^^-  of  liberty.     The  French  are  a  mighty,  a  noble 

people,  and  for  centuries  upheld  the  civilization  of  Europe  \ 
yet  it  is  to  be  said  of  them,  that  for  twenty  years  in  the 
midst  of  the  19th  century  they  permitted  themselves  to  live 
under  a  rule  which,  in  principle,  if  not  in  practice,  was  no 
better  than  an  Asiatic  despotism.  The  real  rottenness  of 
the  system  was  clearly  disclosed  by  the  German  conflict. 
The  issue  on  trial  was  this:  a  people,  the  bravest,  the 
proudest  in  Europe,  but  the  great  mass  of  whom  were 
morally  enfeebled  both  by  want  of  education  and  of  in- 
telligent participation  in  public  affairs,  opposed  to  a  na- 
tion brought  up  in  the  public  school.  The  result  was  a 
most  significant  verdict  as  to  the  merit  of  the  two  systems. 


4.    THE   UNIFICATION  OF  ITALY. 

433.  After  the  Congress  of  Vienna  (18 15),  Austria  hung 
Italy,  1815-  ^i^^^  ^  millstone  round  the  neck  of  Italy;  so 
»848.  that  this  beautiful  land  can  hardly  be  said  to 
have  had  any  history  from  18 15  to  1848.  Austrians  swarmed 
in  the  basin  of  the  Po,  and  creatures  of  Austria  wore  the 
coronets  of  Tuscany,  Modena,  and  Parma. 

434,  When  Pius  IX.  became  Pope,  in  1846,  he  began  to 


UNIFICATION  OF  ITALY.  47 1 

make  some  useful  changes  among  the  people  of  the  Papal 
States.  The  Austrians,  alarmed  at  any  signs  Revolution  of 
of  growing  freedom,  entered  Ferrara  in  1847,  '^'*^' 
and  all  Central  Italy  rose  in  arms  against  the  tyrants. '  The 
following  year  saw  the  flame  of  revolution  kindled  in  Lom- 
bardy.  The  Austrian  troops  were  driven  from  Milan,  and 
Charles  Albert,  King  of  Sardinia,  took  the  field  against 
them.  But  the  hour  of  triumph  was  short :  the  Austrians 
soon  reconquered  Lombardy  and  invaded  Sardinia,  and 
Charles  Albert,  defeated  at  Novara  in  1849,  abdicated,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  Victor  Emanuel  II.  Meanwhile 
Venice,  which  had  again  become  a  republic,  was  recovered 
by  Austria.  Rome,  where  a  republic  had  been  set  up,  was 
overcome  by  troops  sent  by  the  new  republic  of  France.  In 
the  other  Italian  States  the  princes  who  had  been  frightened 
by  the  revolutionary  movements  into  granting  constitutions, 
withdrew  these.  Thus,  after  1849,  Italy  was  left  in  much  the 
same  case  as  she  had  been  in  before  the  uprising. 

435.  In  this  depressed  state  of  affairs  the  one  outlook 
for  Italian  patriots,  who  yearned  intensely  for  victor  Eman- 
the  freedom   and  unity  of  their  country,  was   "^'• 

in  Sardinia,  whose  new  king,  Victor  Emanuel  II.,  was 
known  to  be  liberally  inclined.  His  subjects,  the  Piedmon- 
tese,  enjoyed  a  constitutional  government,  a  free  press,  and 
a  large  share  of  religious  liberty.  Victor  Emanuel  did  not 
disappoint  the  good  hopes  of  the  patriots,  for  he  introduced 
many  reforms,  and  kept  his  word  so  faithfully  that  he  won 
for  himself  the  honorable  nickname  of  //  Re  Galantuomo 
(The  Honest  King). 

436.  In  1853  Count  Cavour  became  prime  minister  to 
Victor  Emanuel.     He  was  one  of  the  ablest  cavour's 
statesmen  of  the  19th  century,  and  passionately  p'^^s. 
desired  to  see  all  Italy  free  and  united.     As  an  important 
step  towards  this  end,  he  induced  the  king  in  1855  to  enter 
into  the  war  which  England  and  France  were  carrying  on 


472  MODERN  HISTORY. 

against  Russia  in  the  Crimea ;  for  he  reasoned  that  if  Italy 
should  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  useful  ally  by  the  great 
powers,  her  deliverance  might  be  hastened  by  foreign  inter- 
ference. Accordingly,  at  the  Congress  of  Paris,  held  the 
following  year  to  arrange  terms  of  peace  between  the  allies 
and  Russia,  Cavour  took  the  opportunity  of  laying  before 
the  representatives  of  the  European  powers  the  unhappy 
condition  of  his  countrymen  in  the  other  Italian  States. 
This  led  France  and  England  to  remonstrate  with  the  King 
of  Naples,  who  was  one  of  the  worst  of  the  Italian  tyrants, 
and  at  length  the  dispute  became  so  serious  that  their  am- 
bassadors were  withdrawn  from  Naples.  And  now  we  come 
to  the  eventful  days  that  changed  the  little  kingdom  of  Sar- 
dinia into  the  kingdom  of  Italy. 

437.  In  1859  France  and  Sardinia  declared  war  against 
War  with  Austria,  and  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III.  said 
Austria.  j^g  would  free  Italy  from  the  Alps  to  the  Adri- 
atic. The  Austrians  were  beaten  in  the  two  great  actions 
of  Magenta  (June  4,  1859)  and  Solferino  (June  24),  and  it 
seemed  as  though  the  French  Emperor  would  keep  his 
word.  But  he  found  that  if  he  went  further  Prussia  would 
take  up  the  cause  of  Austria,  and  so  he  concluded  the 
Peace  of  Villafranca.  Austria  gave  up  to  the  King  of  Sar- 
dinia Lombardy  to  the  west  of  the  Mincio.  In  March, 
i860,  Tuscany,  Modena,  Parma,  and  Romagna,  by  a  gen- 
eral vote  of  the  people,  became  subject  to  the  King  of  Sar- 
dinia. 

438.  In  the  mean  time  the  doings  of  one  man  gave  free- 
dom to  Naples  and  Sicily.  Joseph  Garibaldi,*  "the  hero 
of  the  red  shirt,"  issuing  from  the  rocky  islet  of  Caprera, 

*  Joseph  Garibaldi,  born  at  Nice  in  1807,  has  had  a  most  eventful  and 
wandering  life.  After  making  some  voyages  as  a  sailor,  he  engaged  in 
plots  with  Mazzini  against  Charles  Albert  of  Sardinia.  Escaping  from 
the  perilous  consequences  of  these,  he  carried  his  sword  to  South  Amer- 
ica, where  he  fought  against  Brazil  on  behalf  of  Rio  Grande.  On  his 
return  to  Europe  he  aided  in  defending  Rome  against  the  French  (1848). 


THE   GERMAN  EMPIRE  RESTORED.  473 

landed  in  May,  i860,  at  Marsala  in  Sicily,  proclaiming  him- 
self Dictator  for  Victor  Emanuel.  Storming  Garibaldi's 
Palermo,  the  capital  of  Sicily,  and  defeating  operations, 
the  troops  of  the  King  of  Naples  at  Melazzo,  he  then  in- 
vaded the  mainland,  forcing  Reggio  to  capitulate.  The 
King  of  Naples  took  refuge  in  the  maritime  fortress  of 
Gaeta,  while  Garibaldi  entered  the  capital  and  nominated 
a  provincial  government. 

439.  The  troops  of  Sardinia  soon  invaded  the  Papal 
States,  whose  armies  they  defeated,  and  whose  itaiy  a  king- 
seaport  of  Ancona  they  forced  to  capitulate.  ^°'"- 
Other  victories  followed,  and  the  kingdom  of  the  Two 
Sicilies  became  a  dependency  of  Sardinia.  By  vote  or  revo- 
lution all  the  other  States,  except  the  Papal  territories  and 
the  Austrian  province  of  Venetia,  were  in  1861  amalgamated 
into  the  Kingdom  of  Italy,  and  the  Italian  Parliament  made 
Victor  Emanuel  king  of  Italy. 

440.  The  rest  of  the  story  of  Italian  liberation  is  soon 
told.      When   the   war  between   Austria   and  „.    . 

.  .        t^r  ^    -r     t      •    •        IT-.  •       Closing  events. 

Prussia  broke  out  m  1866,  Italy  joined  Prussia, 
and  Austria  had  to  give  up  Venice  and  Verona.  Lastly, 
when  the  war  between  France  and  Germany  (1870)  caused 
the  French  troops  to  be  withdrawn  from  Rome,  the  eter- 
nal city  was  at  last  joined  to  the  Italian  kingdom.  The 
entrance  of  Victor  Emanuel  into  Rome  was  the  end  of 
the  struggle  for  Italian  unity.  Italy  is  now  united  into  a 
single  kingdom  and  has  Rome  for  her  capital. 

5.     THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE  RESTORED. 

441.  Until  the  Napoleonic  wars,  the  German  Empire, 
or  "  Holy  Roman  Empire,"  the  true  represent-  Review  of  Ger- 
ative  of  the  Empire  of  the  Caesars,  had  con-  ""^^  politics. 

Another  turn  of  Fortune's  wheel, —  and  he  appears  as  a  soap-boiler  and 
candle-maker  in  America ;  then  is  transformed  to  a  farmer  on  the  rocky 
islet  of  Caprera. 


474  MODERN  HISTORY. 

tinued  to  exist  in  name,  though,  since  the  Peace  of  West- 
phalia, the  union  of  the  German  States  had  been  very  lax 
indeed.  But  under  Napoleon  even  the  name  of  union 
under  an  imperial  head  passed  away.  First  he  suc- 
ceeded in  detaching  the  two  duchies  of  Bavaria  and  Wiir- 
temberg  and  several  smaller  states,  and  these  he  formed  into 
the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine.*  And  at  last  the  Emperor, 
Francis  II.,  in  1806,  formally  resigned  the  imperial  crown, 
and  was  called  simply  Efnperor  of  Austria  ;  —  so  that,  after 
this,  Germany  was  no  longer,  even  nominally,  a  united  state, 
acknowledging  a  common  head. 

442.  When,  after  the  downfall  of  Napoleon  in  1815,  the 
The  German  status  of  the  various  European  nations  was 
Confederation,  settled  at  the  Congrcss  of  Vienna,  the  jeal- 
ousies of  the  greater  German  states,  especially  Austria  and 
Prussia,  did  not  permit  that  the  Empire  should  be  restored. 
Instead  of  this  the  German  princes  united  by  a  lax  federal 
tie  in  what  was  called  the  German  Confederatioji  (June  8, 
1815),  which  union  lasted  until  quite  recent  times.  It  was 
made  up  of  thirty-nine  states.t  Each  state  was  to  remain 
independent  in  matters  that  affected  //  alone,  —  the  object 
of  the  confederation  being  merely  the  regulation  of  those 
affairs  common  to  all  German  states  equally.  A  permanent 
Diet,  or  Parliament,  consisting  of  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
the  states,  was  to  hold  its  sittings  in  Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
the  representatives  of  Austria  presiding.  The  members  of 
the  Confederation  agreed  never  to  declare  war  against  one 
another ;  there  was  to  be  a  confederate  army,  to  which  each 

*  See  page  451. 

t  The  principal  of  these  were:  (i)  Austria,  (2)  Prussia,  (3)  Bavaria, 
|4)  Saxony,  (5)  Hanover,  (6)  Wiirtemberg,  (7)  Baden,  (8)  Hesse, 
(9)  Darmstadt,  (10)  Brunswick,  (11)  Mecklenburg-Schwerin  and  Nassau. 
The  votes  in  the  Diet  were  so  regulated  that  the  eleven  states  of  first 
rank  alone  held  a  full  vote,  the  secondary  states  holding  merely  a  half 
or  the  fourth  of  a  vote. 


THE   GERMAN  EMPIRE  RESTORED.  ^y^ 

state  was  to  contribute  according  to  its  population,  and  all 
subjects  of  dispute  between  the  various  states  were  to  be 
referred  for  settlement  to  the  Diet. 

443.  By  the  Act  of  Confederation  all  the  princes  prom- 
ised free  constitutions  to  their  people.  This  was  a  conces- 
sion to  the  spirit  of  the  age  ;  but,  in  fact,  most  Broken  prom- 
of  them  forgot  to  make  good  their  promise.    '^^^• 

This  was  a  great  disappointment  to  the  hopes  of  the  liberal 
and  patriotic  party  throughout  Germany. 

444.  Moreover,  for  some  time  a  strong  feeling  for  the 
real  unity  of  Fatherland  had  been  growing  up,  unity,— a  step 
especially  since  the  war  of  freedom.  There  towards  it. 
was  a  very  general  desire  that  Germany  should  cease  to  be 
a  mere  bundle  of  states  only  nominally  united,  and  become 
a  strong  power  by  becoming  a  tmited  power.  One  not  unim- 
portant step  towards  realizing  this  wish  was  taken  as  Prus- 
sia gradually,  from  1828  onwards,  became  the  center  of  a 
commercial  union  among  the  German  states,  the  members 
of  which  agreed  to  levy  no  duties  on  merchandise  passing 
from  one  state  to  another,  but  to  levy  them  only  at  the  com- 
mon frontier.  This  union,  called  the  Zollverein,  or  Customs' 
tJnion,  was  gradually  joined  by  most  of  the  German  States. 

445.  But,  aside  from  this,  most  of  the  German  sovereigns 
and  princes  showed  themselves  to  be  thorough   The  govem- 

,        ,      .  .  ...  .  _,  ment  and  the 

absolutists  m  prmciple  and  practice.  Repres-  people, 
sive  measures  were  used  to  crush  every  little  manifestation 
of  independence,  and  the  press  was  completely  shackled. 
But,  indeed,  these  acts  had  only  the  effect  of  making  the 
desire  for  freedom  and  unity  stronger.  When  the  French 
Revolution  of  1830  took  place,  there  were  slight  sympa- 
thetic uprisings  in  Prussia  and  Austria,  and  especially  in 
Brunswick  ;  but  very  little  came  of  these. 

446.  However,  the  French  Revolution  of   1848  (when 
King   Louis  Philippe  was  driven  out,  and  a  xhe  earth- 
republic  was  set  up)  had  more  serious  conse-  i^ai^e  year. 


476  MODERN  HISTORY. 

quences  in  Germany.    The  people  this  time  were  in  earnest, 

and  resolved  to  obtain,  at  whatever  cost,  their  chief  de- 
mands. The  princes  of  the  smaller  states  were  alarmed, 
and  most  of  them  at  once  adopted  a  more  liberal  policy. 
In  Austria  the  reforming  or  revolutionary  part)'  everywhere 
gained  the  upper  hand  ;  and  the  Emperor  was  obliged  to 
summon  a  Diet,  to  be  elected  by  universal  suffrage  in  all 
his  hereditary  lands.  In  Berlin  the  uprising  was  even 
more  determined ;  there  were  sharp  contests  between  the 
people  and  the  soldiers ;  and  the  king,  Frederick  William 
IV.,  was  obliged  to  grant  a  new  constitution.  It  was  gen- 
erally hoped  that  union  as  well  as  freedom  was  now  to  be 
achieved  in  Germany,  for  the  movement  gained  such  height 
that  members  from  the  various  states  were  elected  to  a 
National  Assembly,  which  was  opened  at  Frankfort  in  May, 
1848,  and  which  had  the  right  of  acting  for  all  Germany, 
since  the  Diet  had  meanwhile  voluntarily  ceased  to  exist. 

447.  But,  once  again,  the  movement  for  union  and  in- 
Cause  of  the      dependence   proved    abortive,    and   this    time 

people's  fail-  ,  '■  , 

ure.  when  the  people  seemed  to  have  everythmg 

their  own  way.  This  failure  was  due  to  several  causes. 
To  begin  with,  the  National  Assembly  was  largely  under 
the  influence  of  well-meaning,  but  visionary  men,  and  showed 
itself  unequal  to  the  task  of  reconstituting  Germany.  Then 
the  movement  for  independence  was  seriously  checked  by 
the  great  excesses  to  which  the  revolutionary  party  in  Austria 
and  Hungary  went. 

448.  The  Hungarians,  it  must  be  remembered,  were  under 
Uprising  and     the  Austrian  dominion,  and  formed  one  of  the 

down-putting  .     _     ,  .        ,,     -r->  •,       ^ 

of  Hungary.  statcs  of  Fraucis  II.  s  "  Empire.  But  they  had 
once  been  a  great  and  an  independent  nation,  and  they 
sighed  to  be  freed  from  the  yoke  of  the  House  of  Haps- 
burg.  Headed  by  the  famous  orator  Kossuth,  they  de- 
manded complete  independence,  and  set  up  a  republic. 
Jut  unluckily  feuds  arose  between  the  Magyars  and  the 


THE   GERMAN  EMPIRE  RESTORED.  477 

Other  races  in  Hungary,  and  this  greatly  helped  the  recon- 
quest  of  the  country  by  Austria,  which,  however,  was  not 
done  without  the  help  of  Russia. 

449.  While  these  events  were  taking  place  in  Hungary, 
there  was  a  gradual  subsidence  of  the  republi-  The  tide  re- 
can  movement  in  Germany  proper,  so  that  in  '^^'^ss. 
Austria  and  Prussia  and  the  other  states  the  government 
got  the  upper  hand.  And  now  that  the  governments  were 
freed  from  the  fear  with  which  the  revolutionary  outburst 
had  at  first  inspired  them,  they  became  less  and  less  in- 
clined to  adopt  any  very  thorough  changes.  Moreover,  the 
National  Assembly,  still  sitting  at  Frankfort,  was  violently 
divided.  True,  it  got  so  far  in  April,  1849,  ^s  to  form  a 
kind  of  constitution,  and  it  offered  the  Imperial  power  to 
the  King  of  Prussia,  in  whose  family  it  was  to  be  heredi- 
tary. Frederick  William,  however,  refused  to  accept  the 
title  under  a  constitution  which,  he  said,  would  not  give 
him  power  sufficient  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  an  emperor. 

450.  All  this  time,  and  long  afterwards,  the  greatest  difll- 
culty  in  the  unification  of  Germany  arose  from  Jealousies  of 
the  jealousies  between  Prussia  and  Austria,  Austria, 
each  believing  that  //  should  form  the  nucleus  in  the  recon- 
stitution  of  the  Empire.  Prussia,  when  Austria  was  en- 
gaged in  quelling  the  Hungarian  revolt  (1849),  made  an  ef- 
fort to  unite  Germany,  leaving  out  Austria.  Several  states 
joined  Prussia  in  an  alliance.  Then  Austria,  alarmed  by 
the  attempt  of  Prussia  to  seize  the  place  in  Germany  which 
she  looked  on  as  lawfully  hers,  made  a  counter-effort,  and 
succeeded  in  joining  with  her  various  states  in  another  alli- 
ance, leaving  out  Prussia.  Feeling  ran  very  high,  and  the 
two  sections  were  nearly  plunged  into  civil  war  on  a  dispute 
that  arose  in  regard  to  Hesse-Cassel.  The  difficulty  was 
settled  by  the  temporary  re-establishment  of  the  Confeder- 
ation much  as  it  had  been  before  1848.  But  it  remained 
clear  that  the  great  question  in  German  politics  was  whether 


478  MODERN  HISTORY. 

Austria  or  Prussia  should  occupy  the  first  place  in  Ger- 
many. 

451.  The  years  that  followed  the    revolutionary  period 

besrun  in  1848  were  on  the  whole  prosperous. 

Events  to  1859.    ^^^  a-uj  a  uj 

Commerce  nourished,  and  much  was  done 
to  promote  popular  education.  In  the  year  1859  Austria 
plunged  into  the  war  with  Sardinia,  —  the  war  in  which 
Napoleon  III.  took  sides  with  Sardinia  and  compelled  Aus- 
tria to  give  up  Lombardy.*  Austria  tried  to  drag  the  Con- 
federation into  the  struggle  on  her  side ;  but  Prussia  firmly 
adhered  to  the  principle  that  the  Confederation  could  take 
no  part  in  any  contest  that  did  not  directly  affect  German 
interests.  As  bearing  on  Germany,  this  war  is  only  impor- 
tant in  that  the  partial  unification  of  Italy,  which  was  the 
result  of  it,  gave  a  fresh  impulse  in  many  German  minds  to 
the  desire  for  national  unit}^ 

452.  King  Frederick  William  IV.  of  Prussia  died  in 
Prussia  under  1861,  and  was  succccded  by  his  brother,  who 
William  I.        tQQi^  thg  tij.jg  of   William  I.      He  appointed 

Otto  von  Bismarck,  one  of  the  ablest  of  modern  states- 
men, his  prime  minister  and  minister  of  foreign  affairs. 
The  king  was  an  enthusiastic  soldier,  and  wished  to  see  the 
Prussian  army  reorganized.  His  efforts  to  achieve  this  end 
led  to  disputes  with  the  Parliament,  which  did  not  wish  to 
sanction  the  heavy  expenditures  required.  But  the  king  and 
Bismarck,  in  direct  violation  of  the  constitution,  carried  out 
the  scheme. 

453.  All  this  time  the  relations  of  Prussia  and  Austria, 
Progress  of  ^^^^  of  both  to  the  Confederation,  were  very 
the  quarrel.  unsatisfactory.  Bismarck  declared  in  Parlia- 
ment that  the  German  problem  could  be  solved  only  by 
"blood  and  iron."  For  a  time  the  jealousies  of  the  two 
rival  states  were  kept  in  abeyance  by  the  absorbing  inter- 
est of  what  is  called   the  "  Schleswig-Holstein   question." 

*  See  page  469. 


THE   GERMAN  EMPIRE  RESTORED.  479 

This  joined  Prussia  and  Austria  against  Denmark.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1864,  the  united  armies  crossed  the  Eider,  and  drove 
the  Danes  from  a  rampart  called  the  Danewirk.  The  for- 
tress of  Diippel  also  was  taken,  and  such  loss  was  in- 
flicted on  Denmark  that  she  consented  to  part  with  the 
three  duchies  of  Schleswig,  Holstein,  and  Lau'enbiirg,  in 
favor  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria  and  the  King  of  Prussia. 

454.  And  now  a  fresh  difficulty  arose  in  regard  to  the 
disposition  that  should  be  made  of  the  duch-  Relations  of 
ies.  Prussia  desired  to  annex  them  to  her  '^^^  powers, 
own  territory ;  Austria,  though  not  anxious  for  them,  was 
still  resolved  that  Prussia  should  not  obtain  them.  The 
dispute  was  finally  settled  amicably.  However,  the  real 
difficulties  between  the  two  rival  powers  were  not  lessened, 
—  and  Bismarck  did  not  desire  that  they  should  be  les- 
sened, for  he  saw  in  these  complications  the  opportunity  for 
increasing  the  greatness  of  Prussia. 

455.  When  a  nation  wishes  to  make  war,  the  opportunity 
is  usually  found.  Prussia  discovered  one  in  The  fresh  out- 
the  still  open  dispute  with  Austria  in  regard  to   break. 

the  Schleswig-Holstein  question.  But  the  struggle  that  now 
began,  and  which  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  rapid  and 
decisive  in  history,  had  in  reality  very  little  to  do  with  the 
petty  question  with  which  it  was  nominally  associated.  The 
real  issue  was  the  long-pending  one  of  whether  Austria  or 
Prussia  should  guide  the  destinies  of  the  Fatherland. 

456.  The  conflict  was  precipitated  in  June,  1866,  and 
was  continued  through  what  is  called  the  Six   Events  of  the 

Six  Weeks 

Weeks'  War.  Italy  united  with  Prussia  in  de-  war. 
daring  war  against  Austria.  For  a  time  Austria  had  toler- 
ably good  fortune.  The  Italians  were  defeated  at  Custozza 
by  the  Archduke  Albert.  But  the  Prussians,  armed  with  the 
needle-gun,  —  a  breech-loading  rifle  of  new  construction,  — 
invaded  Bohemia  under  the  command  of  their  king,  and  in- 
flicted a  signal  defeat  upon  the  Austrians  under  command 


480  MODERN  HISTORY. 

of  Marshal  Benedek  at  Sadowa,  near  Koniggratz.  Austria 
was  obliged  to  sue  for  peace,  which  was  concluded  at 
Prague,  in  August  of  the  same  year  (1866). 

457.  By  this  treaty  Austria  was  forever  excluded  from 
Results  of  the  Germany,  and  had  to  pay  a  heavy  indemnity, 
struggle.  Besides  this,  several  of  the  states  that  had 
taken  part  with  Austria  —  Bavaria,  Baden,  and  two  or 
three  others  —  entered  into  a  secret  alliance  with  Prussia, 
by  which  their  troops  were  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Prussia 
for  the  defense  of  Germany. 

458.  The  final  result  was  that  all  the  states  to  the  north 
Formation  of  of  the  Main  united  to  form  the  North  German 
Confederation.  Confederation  under  the  leadership  of  Prussia, 
the  whole  military  system  of  the  Confederation  being  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  that  country.  The  first  Diet  of  the  new 
Confederation  met  at  Berlin  in  February,  1867. 

459.  This  partial  union  of  Germany  was  a  great  advance 
Further  pro-  o>^  the  old  State  of  things,  but  still  it  was  far 
s^ess.  from  complete.  A  great  party  —  the  so-called 
National  Liberal  party  —  had  already  been  formed,  whose 
leading  aim  was  the  union  of  South  Germany  with  the  new 
Confederation.  Still,  such  a  union  seemed  far  off,  when  an 
event  happened  by  which,  amid  the  rejoicing  of  Germany,  the 
object  was  attained.     This  event  was  the  war  with  France. 

460.  The  occasion  of  the  war  with  France,  as  has  already 
Cause  of  the  bccu  Stated,*  was  the  fact  that  Leopold,  of 
^^''-  Hohenzollern,  a  kinsman  of  the  King  of 
Prussia,  allowed  himself  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  Spanish 
throne  ;  but  the  underlying  cause  was  the  intense  jealousy 
of  Napoleon  III.  at  the  success  of  Prussia  in  gathering  so 
great  a  part  of  Germany  around  herself. 

461.  In  declaring  war,  which  Napoleon  III.  did  in  July, 
Napoleon's  1870,  he  hoped  that  the  South  Germans,  if 
^isappoint-        ^^^  ^.^  ^^^  actually  join  France,   would  at 

*  See  page  469. 


THE   GERMAN  EMPIRE  RESTORED.  48 1 

least  remain  neutral.  But  he  was  greatly  disappointed. 
The  petty  occasion  of  the  dispute  was  soon  wholly  lost 
sight  of,  and  most  of  the  South  German  states,  realizing 
that  the  struggle  was  one  of  aggressive  and  domineering 
France  against  the  long-humiliated  Fatherland,  willingly 
united  with  Prussia.  Austria  and  the  other  dominions  of 
the  House  of  Austria  alone  held  back. 

462.  Soon  a  million  of  men  were  in  the  field,  under  the 
King  of  Prussia.     His  chief  adviser  was  Gen-   Beginning  of 
eral  von  Moltke,  one  of  the  ablest  strategists   ^^^  struggle, 
of  modern  times.     The   French,    assuming   the    offensive, 
crossed  the  frontier,  fully  expecting,  in  their  blind  confidence, 
that  they  would  soon  dictate  a  peace  at  Berlin. 

463.  With  the  details  of   this  remarkable  campaign  it 
will  be  impossible  for  us  to  occupy  ourselves  ;   Account  of  the 
but  a  few  of  the  prominent  points  are  here   ^^'■• 
presented. 

Battle  of  Weis'senbur^:.  — The  French  having  invaded  Germany,  ac- 
tive operations  commenced  early  in  August,  1870.  Battle  of  Weis- 
senburg,  fought  between  the  German  army  under  the  Crown  Prince 
and  the  French,  August  4th :  result,  the  French  were  defeated.  The 
army  of  the  Crown  Prince  now  encamped  on  French  ground. 

Battle  of  Worth,  —  fought  between  the  German  forces  and  the  French 
army  under  Marshal  MacMahon,  August  6th:  result,  defeat  of  the 
French  ;  and,  as  some  other  successes  were  won  by  the  other  German 
columns  about  the  same  time,  the  whole  German  army  now  entered 
France. 

Battle  of  Sedan',  —  The  main  French  army  under  Marshal  Bazaine 
was  defeated  in  several  engagements  near  Metz ;  and  after  various  op- 
erations in  different  quarters  the  French  were  driven  from  all  sides 
into  Sedan,  which  was  surrounded  by  the  Germans  (September  i): 
result,  the  French  army  of  80,000  men  was  forced  to  surrender ;  the 
Emperor  Napoleon  III.,  who  was  present  with  this  army,  yielded  his 
sword  to  King  William,  and  received  as  his  residence  the  Castle  of 
Wilhelmshohe,  near  Cassel. 

Siege  of  Paris.  —  Soon  after  Sedan,  two  of  the  German  armies,  under 
the  Crown  Prince,  marched  towards  Paris,  which  they  invested  (Sep- 
tember 19th),  while  the  third  German  army  occupied  the  country  to  the 
south  and  southeast,  and  other  forces  the  region  to  the  north  and 
20  EE 


482  MODERN  HISTORY. 


northeast.  The  French  made  several  attempts  to  break  through  the 
German  line  of  investment  (September  and  October),  but  were  driven 
back. 

Surrender  of  Metz.  —  Meanwhile,  a  new  French  army  had  been  raised 
to  operate  with  a  view  to  the  relief  of  Paris,  but  just  then  fresh  disas- 
ters befell  France.  Marshal  Bazaine,  surrounded  by  German  forces 
at  Metz,  after  having  tried  several  times  to  escape,  capitulated  with 
his  whole  army  of  170,000  men  (October  27). 

Surrender  of  Paris.  —  A  last  attempt  was  made  by  the  French  to  es- 
cape from  Paris  in  January,  1871  ;  but  they  were  driven  back  with 
heavy  loss,  and  as,  in  spite  of  some  partial  successes,  all  their  armies 
in  the  field  were  defeated,  the  "  Government  of  the  National  Defense," 
which  had  taken  the  control  of  affairs  after  the  surrender  of  Napoleon, 
opened  negotiations  for  peace.  Paris  formally  surrendered  January 
28,  1871. 

464.  The  final  treaty  of  peace  between  France  and  Ger- 
1-erms  of  many,  called  the  Treaty  of  Frankfort,  was 
peace.  signed  May  10,  187 1.  Very  severe  terms  were 
imposed  on  France,  which  had  to  give  up  to  the  Germans 
the  provinces  of  Alsace  and  German  Lorraine,  and  pay  an 
indemnity  of  5,000,000,000  francs. 

465.  Even  before  the  termination  of  hostilities,  the  long- 
Creation  of  the  desired  result,  the  uaification  of  Germany,  was 
Empire.  ^accomplished.  TRe  war  itself  had  inspired  the 
South  Germans  with  a  warm  desire  for  a  closer  union  with 
the  Northern  Confederation.  By  treaties  made  with  the 
various  South  German  states  in  November,  1S70,  the 
Northern  Confederation  was  changed  into  a  German  Con- 
federation, under  the  presidency  of  Wilham  I.  of  Prussia. 
In  the  following  month  the  German  sovereigns  proposed 
that  the  President  of  the  Confederation  should  receive  the 
title  of  German  Emperor.  The  proposal  being  agreed  to, 
King  William  was,  in  the  palace  of  Versailles,  solemnly 
proclaimed  Emperor  of  Germany,  January  18,  1871. 

467.  In  the  month  of  March  the  first  Diet  of  the  new 
The  German  Empire  was  Opened  at  Berlin.  By  this  Parlia- 
constitutjon.      ment  a  constitution  was  adopted  for  the  twenty- 


GREAT  NAMES   OF  THE  \^7 H  CENTURY.       483 

five  states  forming  the  Empire.  Each  of  these  regulates  its 
own  affairs,  and  is  allowed  to  send  and  receive  diplomatic 
representatives.  What  concerns  the  whole  country  is  left  to 
the  Imperial  Government.  The  duties  of  legislation  rest  with 
the  Federal  Council  and  the  Diet;  the  executive  power,  in- 
cluding the  right  to  declare  war  and  make  treaties,  is  wielded 
by  the  Emperor. 

468.  Thus  it  was  that  the  greater  part  of  Germany  was 
again  united  as  a  single  power.  In  the  mean-  summary  of 
time  Austria  and  its  adjuncts  formed  a  separate  results, 
kingdom  known  as  the  Austro-Hungarian  monarchy.  The 
triumph  of  Prussia  was  complete ;  but  it  was  also  the  triumph 
of  Germany.  The  Austro- Prussian  war  raised  Prussia  to  the 
first  place  in  Germany ;  the  Franco-Prussian  war  raised  Ger- 
many to  the  first  place  in  Europe.  The  German  Emperor, 
William  I.,  died  March  10,  1888,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  Frederick  III.,  who,  after  a  reign  of  about  four  months, 
died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  William  II. 


GREAT   NAMES   OF   THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 

PHILOSOPHERS  AND   SCIENTISTS. 

Humboldt,  Alexandervon  (1769- 1859),  born  at  Berlin  —  the  greatest 
of  descriptive  naturalists  —  chief  work,  his  Kosmos,  an  account  of  the 
physical  phenomena  of  the  universe. 

Cuvier  (1769- 1832),  a  Swiss,  but  lived  most  of  his  life  in  Paris  — 
a  very  distinguished  naturalist  and  paleontologist  —  principal  works, 
The  Atiimal  Khigdotn  and  Discourses  on  the  Revolutions  of  the  Surface 
of  the  Globe — employed  by  Napoleon  as  minister  of  education. 

Hegel  (1770- 1831),  a  German  philosopher  and  founder  of  a  new 
school  of  philosophy. 

Davy,  Sir  Humphry  (1778- 1829),  a  celebrated  chemist  and  natural 
philosopher  —  discovered  a  number  of  scientific  facts  and  principles 
—  inventor  of  the  safety-lamp  for  miners. 

Arago  (1786- 1852),  a  distinguished  French  savant,  and  especially  re- 
nowned in  astronomy  —  was  superintendent  of  the  Paris  Observatory 

Hamilton,  Sir  William  (1788- 1S56),  a  Scotch  metaphysician  and 


4S4  MODERN  HISTORY. 

logician  —  author  of  works  on  mental  philosophy  and  logic  —  contrib* 
uted  greatly  to  advance  metaphysical  science  as  a  professor  and  critic. 

Faraday  (1 791 -1869),  an  eminent  physical  philosopher  —  made  im- 
portant discoveries  relative  to  magnetic  electricity  and  light  —  the 
prince  of  lecturers  on  scientific  subjects. 
'  Comte  (1798-  1857),  a  famous  French  philosopher,  and  author  of  the 
Positive  Philosophy. 

Liebig  (1S03-1872),  born  at  Darmstadt  —  a  great  chemist  —  profes. 
sor  at  Munich  —  has  written  much  on  the  chemistry  of  agriculture 
and  physiology. 
^Mill,  John  Stuart  (1806- 1873),  an  eminent  English  philosopher  — 
author  of  Political  Econotny,  Logic,  On  Liberty,  etc. 

Brewster,  Sir  David  (1781-1868),  a  distinguished  Scottish  scientist 
—  editor  of  the  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia  —  wrote  Letters  on  Natural 
Magic  and  a  Life  of  Newton  —  famous  for  his  discoveries  in  optics. 

Leverrier  (1811-1877),  a  great  French  astronomer  —  proved  by 
mathematical  calculation  that  there  must  be  another  planet  beyond 
the  orbit  of  Uranus,  and  told  when  and  where  it  would  come  into 
view,  August,  19,  1846  ;  in  September  it  was  discovered  in  nearly  the 
locality  indicated,  and  is  now  known  as  Neptune. 

Tyndall,  John  {1820-  1893),  a  natural  philosopher  and  most  clear  and 
eloquent  expounder  of  scientific  subjects  —  author  of  Heat  considered 
as  a  Mode  of  Motion,  Glaciers  of  the  Alps,  etc. 

Agassiz,  Louis  J.  R.  (1807- 1873),  an  eminent  naturalist  —  born  in 
Switzerland,  but  spent  the  last  twenty-five  years  of  his  life  in  this 
country  —  leading  works,  Poissons  Fossiles,  Contributions  to  the  Natural 

History  of  the  United  States,  and  Methods  of  Study  in  Natural  History. 

1 

WRITERS. 

Goethe  (1749 -1832),  born  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main  —  one  of  the 
most  glorious  names  of  Germany — chief  works,  Werther,  Wilhelm 
Meister,  and  Faust. 

Richter  (1763-  1825),  a  German  author  and  humorist,  and  a  most 
original  writer  —  principal  works,  Titan,  Hesperus,  and  Levana  on 
Education. 

Wordsworth,  William  (1770 -1850),  one  of  the  Lake  Poets  —  chief 
works,  The  Excursion  ^x\A  The  White  Doe  of  Rylstone  —  Poet  Laureate 
after  Southey  ;  many  of  his  poems  describe  common  events  in  every- 
day words. 

Scott.  Sir  Walter  (1771-1832),  born  in   Edinburgh  —  famed  as  a 


GREAT  NAMES  OF  THE   \^TH  CENTURY.        485 


poet,  and  still  more  so  as  a  novelist  —  began  with  a  translation  of 
Burger's  Leonora  and  The  Wild  Htuttsman  —  chief  poems,  Lady  of  the 
Lake,  and  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel. 

Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor  (1772- 1834),  one  of  the  Lake  Poets- 
chief  works,  The  Ancient  Mariner  and  Christabel,  an  unfinished  poem. 

Campbell,  Thomas  (1777- 1844),  born  and  educated  in  Glasgow  — 
author  of  Pleasiires  of  Hope  —  more  admired  for  his  warlike  ballads, 
such  as  The  Battle  of  the  Baltic  and  Ye  Mariners  of  England. 

Beranger  (1780- 1857),  a  noted  lyric  poet  of  France  —  sang  of  the 
common  people  and  their  interests  :  the  Burns  of  France. 

Grimm,  Jacob  and  William  (1785 -1863),  brothers,  and  associated 
as  philologists  and  antiquarians  —  through  their  labors  comparative 
philology  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  science  —  greatest  works, 
Teutonic  Grammar  and  German  Dictionary — known  to  the  young 
as  the  authors  of  Hoiisehold  Tales. 

Guizot,  Francois  Pierre  Guillaume  (1787- 1875),  a  prominent 
statesman  and  the  most  distinguished  modern  French  historian,  —  au- 
thor of  a  "  History  of  Civilization  in  Europe  "  and  many  other  works. 

Byron  (1788-  1824),  born  in  London  —  one  of  the  leading  British  poets 
—  his  chief  work  is  Childe  Harold'' s  Pilgrimage,  written  in  the  stanza 
of  Spenser  —  died  at  Missolonghi  (in  Greece),  of  fever,  aged  36. 

Carlyle,  Thomas  ( 1795 -1881),  born  in  Scotland,  but  has  lived  most  of 
his  life  in  London  —  one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  English  writers  — 
distinguished  for  his  powerful  and  picturesque,  though  somewhat 
eccentric,  style  —  did  much  to  introduce  German  literature  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  English-speaking  public  —  greatest  works,  the 
Fre7ich  Revolntio7t  (a  grand  prose  epic).  Life  of  Frederick  the  Great, 
Life  of  Cromwell,  Sartor  Resartus,  etc.  —  has  profoundly  influenced 
the  thought  of  his  age. 

Prescott  (1796-  1859),  an  eminent  American  historian  —  devoted  him- 
self especially  to  Spanish  history  —  chief  works,  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, Conquest  of  Mexico,  etc. 

Thiers  (1797 -1877),  a  French  historian  and  statesman  —  author  of 
The  French  Rez'olution  and  The  Consulate  and  the  Empire —  was  made 
President  of  the  French  Republc  after  the  overthrow  of  Louis  Na- 
poleon, in  1870. 

Pushkin  (1799 -1837),  the  greatest  of  Russian  poets. 

Macaulay  (1800-  1859),  the  finest  historian  of  the  day  —  chief  work, 
History  of  England ■ — distinguished  for  his  brilliant  and  picturesque 
style. 

Hugo,  Victor  (1802-1885),  a  French  poet,  dramatist,  novelist,  and 


486  MODERN  HISTORY. 

politician  —  took  part  in  the  school  of  Romanticists  in  opposition  to 
the  Classicists — best-known  novels,  Notre  Dame  in  his  earlier  days, 
and  Les  Miserables  and  Ninety-  Three  in  his  latter  days. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo  ( 1803  -  18S2),  the  "  sage  of  Concord  "  —  the 
most  subtle  and  original  thinker  of  America  —  leading  works,  Essays, 
Representative  Men,  etc. 

Hawthorne  (1805 -1864),  an  American  novelist  —  distinguished  for 
the  subtlety  of  his  analysis  and  his  graceful,  powerful  style  —  author 
of  The  Scarlet  Letter,  Twice-  Told  Tales,  etc. 

Tennyson,  Alfred  (1809 -1892),  Poet  Laureate  of  England —  a  great 
master  of  rhythm  and  metrical  harmony  —  his  poems  marked  by 
sweetness  and  depth  of  passion  —  leading  works.  The  Princess,  In 
Memoriam,  Idyls  of  the  King,  etc. 

Thackeray  (181 1 -1863),  though  not  the  most  popular,  yet  the  pro- 
foundest,  of  English  novelists  —  distinguished  for  his  subtle  analysis  of 
character  —  leading  works,  Vanity  Fair,  Pe7idennis,  The  Newcomes,  etc. 

Dickens,  Charles  (1812  -  1870),  the  most  popular  of  modern  English 
novelists  —  the  Shakespeare  of  the  19th  century  —  his  novels  distin- 
guished as  generally  having  some  object  of  philanthropy  or  reform. 


ARTISTS. 

Thorwaldsen  (1770 -1844),  a  Danish  sculptor,  and  author  of  many 
noble  works  —  founder  of  the  Art  Museum  at  Copenhagen. 

Beethoven  (1770-  1827),  a  great  German  musician  —  among  his  many 
works  may  be  named  The  Mount  of  Olives,  an  oratorio,  and  Fidelia,  an 
opera. 

Turner  (1775-  185 1),  one  of  the  best  landscape  painters  of  the  English 
school  —  painted  also  several  historical  pictures  —  died  under  an 
assumed  name  in  a  humble  lodging  in  London. 

Weber  (1786-  1826),  a  distinguished  musician  of  the  German  school  — 
his  greatest  %vork,  Der  Freischiitz,  was  brought  out  in  1822  at  Berlin. 

Vernet,  Horace  (1789-  1863),  one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  French 
painters  —  his  favorite  subjects,  battles  and  African  hunting  —  painted 
on  very  large  canvases. 

Rossini  (1792- 1868),  a  great  Italian  musical  composer — most  cele- 
brated operas,  William  Tell  and  The  Barber  of  Seville  —  author  also 
of  Stabat  Mater. 

Meyerbeer  (1794 —  1864),  a  renowned  German  musical  composer —  at 
six  years  of  age  astonished  the  public  by  his  playing  — greatest  operas, 
Robert  le  Diable,  The  Hugitenots,  The  Prophet,  and  V  Africaine. 


GREAT  NAMES  OF  THE   igTH  CENTURY.        487 

Donizetti  (1798- 1848),  acomposer  of  Italian  operas  —  best  known, 
Lucrezia  Borgia  and  Lucia  di  Lamviermoor. 

Landseer,  Sir  Edwin  (1802-  1873),  famous  for  his  paintings  of  ani- 
mals, which  have  been  widely  popularized  in  engravings. 

Kaulbach,  Wilhelm  von  {1805 -1874),  the  most  illustrious  modern 
German  painter  —  the  leader  of  the  idealistic  school — spent  most  of 
his  life  in  Munich,  the  last  twenty-five  years  as  director  of  the  art 
academy  —  produced  many  grand  paintings,  his  masterpieces  being 
the  "Battle  of  the  Huns"  and  the  "  Destruction  of  Jerusalem." 

Mendelssohn  (1809- 1847),  born  at  Hamburg,  of  German-Jewish 
parentage  —  a  musician  of  the  highest  genius —  chief  works,  his  music 
for  the  Midsummer  Nighfs  Dream,  and  his  sublime  oratorios,  St. 
Paul  and  Elijah. 

Verdi  (1814-1901),  an  Italian  composer  —  best-known  operas,  //  Tro- 
vatore  and  La  Traviata. 

Dor6,  Gustave  (1833- 1883),  a  French  artist-  distinguished  for  ex- 
traordinary powers  of  conception  —  well  known  for  his  illustrations  of 
the  works  of  Dante,  and  of  Don  Quixote  and  the  Wandering  Jew. 


INVENTORS. 

Brunei,  Sir  Isambard  (1769-  1849),  ^  distinguished  engineer  —  great- 
est work,  the  Thames  Tunnel ;  begun  1826,  finished  1843. 

Stephenson,  George  {1781-  1848),  born  at  Wylam,  Northumberland 
—  the  great  railway  engineer  —  inventor  of  the  locomotive  engine — 
died  at  Tapton,  aged  67  —  his  son  Robert  is  distinguished  as  the  engi- 
neer of  the  Tubular  Bridge  over  the  Menai  Strait. 

Daguerre  (1789  -  1851 ),  inventor  oi  the  daguerreotype  —  the  production 
by  light  of  images  on  a  sensitive  surface  was  already  known,  but 
Daguerre  discovered  how  to  fix  the  image  in  hyposulphate  of  soda. 

Morse,  Professor  S.  F.  B.  (1791-1872),  born  in  Massachusetts  — 
educated  for  a  painter,  but  devoted  himself  to  science — his  world- 
wide fame  is  based  on  his  invention  of  the  electric  telegraph. 

Edison,  Thomas  A.  (1847-  ),  born  in  Ohio  —  an  eminent  elec- 
trician, and  inventor  of  many  improvements  in  telegraphic  and  tele- 
phonic instruments,  the  phonograph,  and  the  incandescent  light. 


Abraham,  31,  38. 

Abu-Beker,  229. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  foundation  of,  381. 

Achaia,  province  of,  iii,  155. 

Acre,  siege  of,  by  Crusaders,  263,  445. 

Actium,  battle  of,  177. 

Addison,  437. 

iEgos  Potamos,  battle  of,  loi. 

^neas,  133. 

iEschines,  123. 

i^schylus,  121. 

Africa,  circumnavigation  of,  by  Da  Gama, 

310. 
Agassiz,  Louis  J.  R.,  4S4. 
Ages,  the  Dark,  272,  277. 
Agincourt,  battle  of,  291. 
Agriculture,  low  state  of,  in  Middle  Ages, 

275- 
Alba  Longa,  134. 
Alcxus,  121. 
Alcibiades,  100,  loi. 
Alcuin,  274. 
Alexander  the  Great,  career  of,  104,  105  ; 

his  successors,  io8. 
Alexander  I.  of  Russia,  408. 
Alfred  the  Great,  292. 
Alhambra,  the,  282. 
Alliance,  the  Holy,  458. 
Alphabet,  the  Phoenician,  45,  46,  47. 
Alsace,  482. 
Alva,  Duke  of,  332. 
Ambrose,  200. 
Amusements,  Roman,  204. 
Ancient  History,  end  of,  5. 
Andalusia,  meanmg  of  the  term,  216 
Angelo,  Michel,  347 
Anglo-Saxon,  persistence  of,  292. 
Anglo-Saxons,  conquest  of  Britain  by,  225, 

226. 
Aatioch,  siege  of,  35S,  259. 


Antony,  Mark,  173,  175,  176, 177. 

Aqueducts,  Roman,  187. 

Arago,  483. 

Arbela,  battle  of,  105 

Archasology,  definition  of,  i. 

Architecture,  Egyptian,  22  ;  Chaldxan,  30 : 
Hindoo,  S3  ;  Persian,  60 ;  Greek,  orders 
of,  125,  126;  Gothic,  284. 

Archons,  Athenian,  89. 

Areola,  battle  of,  443. 

Ariosto,  349. 

Aristides,  94. 

Aristophanes,  122. 

Aristotle,  125. 

Arkwright,  439. 

Armada,  the,  342,  343. 

Arques,  battle  of,  338. 

Art,  Greek,  125;  the  Flemish  School  of, 
382. 

Arts,  Assyrian,  35  ;  Babylonian,  37  :  Per- 
sian, 61. 

Aryans,  3  ;  proof  of  the  unity  of,  3 ;  influ- 
ence of,  in  history,  4 ;  first  seat  of,  50. 

Asia,  geographical  divisions  of,  8,  9,  10 

Assembly,  the  French  Legislative,  during 
the  Revolution,  419. 

Assyria,  Empire  of,  32-  35. 

Astronomy,  Chaldaean,  30. 

Athanasius,  200. 

Athens,  early  history  of,  88. 

Attila,  210. 

Auerstadt,  battle  of,  451. 

Augustine,  201. 

Augustan  Age,  188. 

Augustus  (see  also  Octavius),  182-189. 

Austerlitz,  battle  of,  450 

Austrian  Empire,  establishment  of,  451. 

Babylon,  description  of,  36. 

Bacon,  Roger,  281  ;  Francis,  379,  387. 


490 


INDEX. 


Balance  of  Power,  nature  of  the,  316;  wars 
of  Francis  I.  to  preserve  the,  322. 

Banking,  origin  of,  279,  280  noU. 

Barras,  427. 

Bassano,  battle  of,  443. 

Bastile,  capture  of  the,  415. 

Baths,  Roman,  204, 

Bautzen,  battle  of,  455. 

Bayard,  271. 

Bede,  274. 

Beethoven,  486. 

Belisarius,  223. 

Benedict,  Saint,  276. 

B^ranger,  485. 

Berkeley,  431. 

Bemadotte,  453. 

Bernard,  Saint,  261. 

Bishop  of  Rome,  power  of,  247. 

Bismarck,  478. 

Blood,  discovery  of  the  circulation  of,  381. 

Boleyn,  Anne,  326-328. 

Bonaparte,  Joseph,  451,  452;  Louis,  451. 

Books,  Roman,  205  ;  scarcity  of,  in  Middle 
Ages,  273,  274;  earliest  printed,  313. 

Bossuet,  38r. 

Bourbon,  House  of,  290;  first  king  of  name, 
338. 

Brewster,  Sir  David,  484. 

Brindley,  433,  439. 

Britain,  conquest  of,  by  Romans,  19J  :  aban- 
donment of,  by  Romans,  209. 

Brunei,  Sir  Isambard,  487. 

Brunswick,  House  of,  392,  392  note. 

Brutus,  Lucius  Junius,  137 ;  Marcus  Jun- 
ius, 173,  174,  176. 

Buddhism,  54. 

Burgundians,  216. 

Burke,  438. 

Burleigh,  344,  345. 

Burns,  438. 

Byron,  485. 

Byzantium,  193. 

Cabot,  312. 

Cadmus,  46. 

Cxsar,  Julius,  165-175. 

Caliphs,  meaning  of  term,  229. 

Calonne,  412. 

Calvin,  John,  334. 

Cambyses,  56 ;  son  of  Cyrus,  5S. 

Camoens,  349. 

Campbell,  Thomas,  485. 


Campo  Formio,  treaty  of,  444. 

Canals,  first  navigable,  433. 

Cannae,  battle  of,  151. 

Canova,  439. 

Capet,  Hugh,  288. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  485. 

Carthage,  founding  of,  43;  position  0%  in 
Roman  period,  48,  148;  siepe  of,  153, 
154. 

Cassius,  Caius,  173,  176. 

Castes,  Egyptian,  20,  21 ;  Indian,  51 ;  origio 
of,  52. 

Castiglione,  battle  of,  443. 

Castile,  foundation  o^  299. 

Catherine  IL  of  Russia,  407,  408  ;  de  Med- 
ici, 334-338. 

Catholics,  persecution  of,  under  Henry 
VI n.,  328,  329. 

Catiline,  165. 

Cato  the  Censor,  153,  158  note;  the  Young- 
er, 171. 

Catullus,  188. 

Caucasian  race,  its  historic  representa- 
tives, 2. 

Cavaignac,  466. 

Cavaliers,  354;  costume  of  the,  384,  385. 

Cavour,  471. 

Celts,  immigration  of,  into  Europe,  213 ;  in- 
fluence of  Rome  on,  214. 

Cervantes,  348. 

Chsronea,  battle  of,  104, 

Chaldia,  the  kingdom  of,  29-31. 

Charlemagne,  empire  of,  234-239. 

Charles  Albert,  471. 

Charles  I.  (of  England),  reign  of,  352-357; 
Charles  II.  (of  England),  reign  of,  360, 
361  :  Charles  V.  (of  Spain),  age  of,  317- 
325  ;  Charles  IX.  (of  France),  336  -  338 ; 
Charles  X.  (of  France),  464  ;  Charles 
XII.  (of  Sweden),  404-406. 

Chartists,  the,  461,  462. 

Chaucer,  2S4. 

Chemistry,  foundation  of,  in  18th  century, 

432- 
Cheops,  iS. 

Chimneys,  origin  of,  280. 
Chivalry,  267  -  271. 
Christ,  birth  of,  i8q. 
Christianity,  spread  of,  194-201. 
Christians,  first  pagan  mention  of,  195,  196. 
Chronology,  French  system  of,  during  the 

Revolution,  441  note. 


INDEX. 


491 


Chrysostom,  201. 

Church,  influence  of,  in  Dark  Ages,  275. 

Cicero,  164,  165. 

Cincinnatus,  139. 

Cities,  rise  of,  in  Middle  Ages,  245,  346 ;  the 
growth  of,  in  Middle  Ages,  277. 

Citizenship,  Roman,  extension  of,  192. 

^'Civilization,  connection  of,  with  geography, 
10 ;  Assyrian,  34  ;  Phoenician,  49  ;  Alex- 
andrian, 108;  Grecian,  114-129;  types 
of,  in  Roman  Empire,  155:  sources  of 
modem,  214,  215;  Byzantine,  222;  in 
Middle  Ages,  272-284. 

Cleopatra,  170,  176,  177,  178. 

Clergy,  the  English,  in  17th  century,  383. 

Clovis,  224. 

Code  Napoleon,  449. 

Coleridge,  Samuel  T.,  485. 

Coliseum,  185. 

Colonies,  Phcenician,  44, 45 ;  Greek,  in  Asia 
Minor,  82. 

Columbus,  311. 

Commerce,  Babylonian,  64  ;  Phoenician,  66 ; 
Carthaginian,  68 ;  early  English,  278, 
279  ;  Italian,  279  ;  Venetian,  296  ;  effect 
of  circumnavigation  of  Africa  on,  311 ; 
English,  under  Elizabeth,  344. 

Commonwealth,  the  English,  357. 

Compass,  invention  of  Mariner's,  309. 

Comte,  484. 

Confederation  of  the  Rhine,  451 ;  the  Ger- 
man, 474,  480. 

Conformity,  Act  of,  341. 

Constance,  Peace  of,  278,  296. 

Constantine,  ig8,  199. 

Constantinople,  193,  230,  307. 

Consulate,  establishment  of  French,  446, 
447- 

Consulate  and  the  Empire,  France  under 
the,  440-457. 

Copernicus,  349. 

Corday,  Charlotte,  425. 

Coriolanus,  138. 

Corneille,  381,  388. 

Corn  Laws,  repeal  of,  461. 

Cosmo  I.,  298 

Cotton-gin,  434. 

Crassus,  163,  165,  168. 

Crecy,  battle  of,  290. 

Crimea,  conquest  of  the,  by  Russia,  408. 

Crimean  war,  462,  463,  468 ;  part  taken  by 
Italy  in,  471,  472. 


Croesus,  overthrow  of,  57. 

Crompton,  433,  439. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  355-359:  Richard,  359. 

Crusades,  the,  253  -  266 ;  meaning  of  term, 

253  ;  origin  of,  254 :  the  First,  256-260 ; 

the  Second,  261,  262  ;  the  Third,  262, 

263  ;  later  ones,  264 ;  results  of,  265,  266. 
Cuneiform,  nature  of  characters,  30,  31,  45. 
Custozza,  battle  of,  479. 
Cuvier,  483. 
Cyaxares,  56. 
Cyprian,  200. 
Cyrus,  legends  of,  56,  57  ;  his  conquests,  57, 

58. 

Daguerre,  487. 

Damascus,  siege  of,  by  Crusaders,  262. 

Dante,  284. 

Darius  I.,  59,  91-93;  Darius  Codomannus, 
105,  106. 

Dark  Ages,  212. 

Davy,  Sir  Humphry,  483. 

Decemvirs,  the  Roman,  141. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  influence  of 
French  philosophy  in,  430. 

Democracy,  contributions  of  Greeks  to,  tt4> 

Demosthenes,  103,  123. 

Descartes,  379,  380,  387. 

Desiderius,  224. 

Dickens,  Charles,  486. 

Dictator,  origin  of  Roman,  139. 

Diet  of  Worms,  321. 

Diocletian,  197. 

Directory,  French  government  called  th«, 
426,  427  ;  the  French,  442. 

Donizetti,  487. 

Dore,  Gustave,  487. 

Dorians,  character  of,  84. 

Dorylaeum,  battle  of,  258. 

Draco,  laws  of,  89. 

Drama,  Grecian,  121,  122. 

Dress,  Grecian,  128;  Roman,  201,303;  la- 
dies', in  17th  century,  385. 

Dumouriez,  420,  424. 

Diirer,  347. 

Dutch  Republic,  rise  of,  331-333. 

Dynasty,  the  Merovingian,  224  ;  the  Carlo- 
vingian,  285  ;  the  Norman,  in  England, 
293- 

Edessa,  principality  of,  36t> 
Edgehill,  battle  of,  354. 


493 


INDEX 


Edict  of  Nantes,  revocation  of,  375. 

Education  among  Greeks,  128. 

Edward  VI.  of  England,  reign  of,  339,  340. 

Egbert,  291. 

Egypt,  12-26;  antiquity  of,  12;  its  geog- 
raphy, 13;  populousness  of,  14;  hiero- 
glyphics, 14-  16  ;  chronology,  17  ;  castes, 
20,  21  ;  architecture,  22  ;  sculpture,  23 ; 
religion,  24  ;  manufactures,  25. 

Elba,  455. 

Electricity,  Franklin's  discoveries  in,  432. 

Elegy,  rise  of,  among  the  Greeks,  120. 

Elizabeth  of  England,  reign  of,  339-346. 

Embalming,  practice  of,  among  Egyptians, 

25- 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  486. 

Emperors,  the  Roman,  189,  igo. 

Empire,  the  Eastern  Roman,  221  ;  the 
German,  in  Middle  Ages,  285  -  287. 

England,  meaning  of  name,  226  ;  Christiani- 
zation  of,  227  ;  history  of,  in  Middle 
Ages,  291  -  295  ;  effect  of  Norman  con- 
quest, 292;  under  Henry  VIII.,  325- 
330  ;  under  the  Stuarts,  350  -  364  ;  social 
condition  of,  in  17th  century,  383,  384. 

Epaminondas,  102. 

Era,  the  Christian,  true  beginning  of,  189 
note- 

Essex,  Earl  of,  345. 

Essling,  battle  of,  453. 

Ethnology,  definition  of,  1. 

Etruscans,  the,  131. 

Euripides,  121. 

Exodus,  the,  19  note. 

Eylau,  battle  of,  452. 

Faraday,  484. 

Fathers,  the  Christian,  200. 

Federations,  Greek,  no. 

Feudalism,  241  -246  ;  decline  of,  314. 

Fief,  nature  of,  241,  243. 

Fielding,  437. 

Florence,  history  of,  in  Middle  Ages,  297, 
298. 

Food,  Roman,  202. 

France,  meaning  of  the  term,  216  ;  founda- 
tion of,  224 ;  beginnings  of,  287,  288  ; 
under  Carlovingians,  288  ;  Capetian 
kings  of,  289  :  under  House  of  Valois, 
2QO  ;  under  Louis  XIV.,  368-379. 

Franchise,  the  Latin,  147. 

Frankfort,  Treaty  of,  48a. 


Franklin,  Benjamin,  432,  436. 

Franks,  meaning  of  the  word,  216;  invasiot 

of  Gaul  by,  216,  224. 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  262,  263,  296  ;  Duke 

of  Saxony,  321  ;  Elector  Palatine,  365 ; 

William,  397. 
French  Revolution,  409  -  429. 
Fulton,  439. 

Gades,  44. 

Gainsborough,  438. 

Galileo,  349,  380. 

Gallia  Cisalpina,  131. 

Galvani,  432,  436. 

Galvanism,  origin  of,  432. 

Games,  the  four  Grecian,  117,  iif. 

Garibaldi,  472,  473. 

Gas-lights,  first  use  of,  434. 

Gaul,  settlement  of  Teutonic  tribes  in, 
224. 

Gauls,  seat  of,  in  Italy,  131  ;  burning  of 
Rome  by,  133  ;  capture  of  Rome  by, 
142. 

Genseric,  210. 

Gentleman,  origin  of  the,  271. 

Geology,  foundation  of,  433. 

George  I.  of  England,  reign  of,  392,  393; 
II.,  reign  of,  394;  III.,  reign  of,  395, 
396;  III.,  458:  I  v.,  458. 

Germany,  Empire  of,  in  Middle  Ages,  285- 
287. 

Ghibellines,  295,  296. 

Gibbon,  438. 

Gibraltar,  meaning  of  term,  230. 

Gioja,  309. 

Girondists,  the,  419,  421,  424. 

Glass,  introduction  of,  in  windows,  28o> 

Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  260. 

Goethe,  484. 

Goldsmith,  438. 

Good  Hope,  Cape  of,  doubled,  310. 

Goths,  208,  209  ;  original  home  of,  2ij. 

Gracchus,  Tiberius,  159,  160 ;  Caius,  160, 

Granicus,  battle  of,  105. 

Great  Britain,  origin  of  name,  391. 

Greece,  history  of,  73  -  129 ;  race,  74  ;  geog- 
raphy of,  75  :  states  of,  76 ;  legends  of, 
78,  79;  movements  of  races,  81,  82; 
colonies,  82  ;  earliest  history,  84 ; 
growth  of  Sparta  and  Athens,  85-90; 
Persian  invasions  of,  91-98;  age  of 
Pericles,   98,  99 ;    Peloponnesian  war. 


INDEX. 


493 


xoe,  loi  ;  Spartan  and  Theban  suprem- 
acy, loi,  I02 ;  supremacy  of  Macedonia, 
103, 104;  later  history,  109-  iii  ;  civili- 
zation of,  114-129. 

Greek  society,  129. 

Gregory  Nazianzen,  200. 

Gregory  VII.,  250. 

Granada,  capture  of,  299. 

Grey,  Lady  Jane,  340. 

Grimm,  Jacob  and  William,  485. 

Guelphs,  the,  295. 

Gunpowder,  effect  of,  270. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  365,  366. 

Gutenberg,  313. 

Hamilcar,  150. 

Hamilton,  Sir  William,  483. 

Hamites,  their  representative,  3. 

Handel,  438. 

Hannibal,  151-153- 

Hanno,  68  note. 

Kapsburg,  origin  of  House  of,  287. 

Hargreaves,  439. 

Haroun-al-Raschid,  231. 

Harvey,  381. 

Hawthorne,  486. 

Haydn,  439. 

Hebrews,  the,  38  -  42. 

Hegel,  483. 

Hegira,  date  of,  228. 

Hellas,  75. 

Henry  II.  (of  England),  289;  VII.  (of 
England),  295  ;  VIII.  (of  England), 
reign  of,  325-330;  III.  (of  France), 
338 ;  IV.  (of  France),  338,  339 ;  IV. 
(Emperor  of  Germany),  250. 

Henry,  Prince  of  Portugal,  309. 

Herodotus,  14  note,  122. 

Herschel,  William,  436. 

Hesiod,  1 20. 

Hieroglyphics,  Egyptian,  14-  16. 

Hildebrand,  249,  250. 

Hindoos,  the,  50  -  54. 

History,  definition  of,  i ;  a  unit,  6 ;  earliest 
theater  of,  ii. 

Hohenlinden,  battle  of,  448. 

Holbein,  347. 

Homer,  78,  79,  90,  119,  120. 

Horace,  188. 

Horatius  Codes,  138. 

Houses,  description  of  Roman,  ao6. 

Howard,  Catherine,  329  ;  John,  435. 


Hugo,  Victor,  485. 
Huguenot,  origin  of  name,  334. 
Humboldt,  Alexander  von,  483. 
Hume,  David,  431,  437,  438. 
Hungary,  revolution  of,  in  1848,  476,  477. 
Hyksos,  18,  19. 

Imperator,  meaning  of,  171. 

India,  Alexander's  expedition  to,  106 ;  con< 

quest  of,  by  British,  396. 
Innocent  III.,  251. 

Inventions,  sketch  of,  in  18th  century,  433. 
Ionia,  revolt  of  cities  of,  gi. 
lonians,  character  of,  83,  84. 
Ipsus,  battle  of,  108. 

Isabella,  299.  •         1 

Israel,  kingdom  of,  40. 
Issus,  battle  of,  105. 
Italy,  in  Middle  Ages,  295-298;  unification 

of,  470-473- 
Ivry,  battle  of,  338. 

Jacobite,  origin  of  the  name,  393. 

Jacquard,  439. 

James  1.  of  England,  350-352  ;   II.,  363. 

Janus,  temple  of,  186. 

Jena,  battle  of,  451. 

Jerome,  201. 

Jerusalem,  destruction    of,  by  Titus,  41 ; 

capture  of,  by  Crusaders,  260 ;  kingdom 

of,  260. 
Jews,  their  place  in  history,  42. 
Joan  of  Arc,  291. 
John  of  England,  293. 
Johnson,  Samuel,  437. 
Josephine,  428. 
Jourdan,  428,  442,  443. 
Judah,  kingdom  of,  40. 
Jugerum,  143  note- 
Julian  the  Apostate,  200. 
Justinian,  reign  of,  221,  223. 
Juvenal,  189. 

Kant,  431. 

Kepler,  380. 

Kings,  divine  right  of,  351. 

Knight,  dress  and  equipment  of,  269' 

Knighthood,  ceremonial  o^  868> 

Koran,  the,  228. 

Kossuth,  47b> 

Labakum,  the,  199. 


494 


INDEX. 


Lafayette,  414. 

Lamian  war,  the,  log. 

Lancaster,  House  of,  294. 

Landseer,  Sir  Edwin,  487. 

Languages,  the  Teutonic,  219;  tha  Sla- 
vonic, 219;  the  Celtic,  2'8;  the  Ro- 
mance, 273. 

Laplace,  437. 

Latins,  the  race  of  the,  13a. 

Laud,  353. 

Lavoisier,  432,  436. 

Law,  John,  393. 

Law,  the  civil  or  Roman,  221. 

Laws,  English  penal,  435. 

League,  the  Achaean,  1 10 ;  the  Smalcaldic, 
323;  Hanseatic,  277,  278;  Lombard, 
278. 

Learning,  revival  of,  312-314. 

Leibnitz,  381,  3S8. 

Leicester,  Earl  of,  345. 

Leipsic,  battle  of,  455. 

Leonidas,  95,  96. 

Leopold,  469. 

Lepidus,  175. 

Lessing,  438. 

Letters,   the  disuse  of,    in    Middle    Ages, 

273- 

Leuctra,  battle  of,  102. 

Leverrier,  484. 

Library,  the  Alexandrian,  108,  170,  229. 

Licinian  law,  the,  143. 

Lictors,  the  Roman,  138  note. 

Liebig,  484. 

Literature,  Hindoo,  S2>  53 :  Persian,  62 ; 
early  Roman,  157  ;  Roman,  1S8  ;  char- 
acteristics of  European,  in  i8th  century, 
431  ;  French,  in  i8th  century,  429. 

Lithography,  invention  of,  434. 

Livy,  133,  134,  188. 

Locke,  431. 

Lodi,  battle  of  Bridge  of,  443. 

Logarithms,  invention  of,  381. 

Lombards,  217,  223,  248. 

Lombardy,  Charlemagne  king  of,  237 ; 
League  of,  296. 

Long  Parhament,  353. 

Lorraine,  482. 

Louis  Napoleon,  early  career  of,  465  ; 
coup  d'etat  by,  467  ;  becomes  Emperor, 
468. 

Louis  Philippe,  464,  465. 

Louis  le  Deboonaire,  239 ;   IX.>  364,  265  ; 


XIIL,  369;  XIV.,  368- 379:  XV.,  409, 
410;  XVI.,  410-423;  XVIII.,  455, 
456,  463,  464. 

Lucretius,  188. 

Luneville,  Treaty  of,  448. 

Luther,  Martin,  320. 

Liitzen,  battle  of,  366,  455 

Luxury,  Roman,  158. 

Lydia,  63  note. 

Macaulay,  485. 

Macedonia  under  Philip,  103,  104;  subju- 
gation of,  by  Rome,  154. 

Magellan,  312. 

Magenta,  battle  of,  472. 

Magianisra,  61. 

Magna  Charta,  294. 

Magna  Grascia,  132  ;  subdued  by  Romans, 
146. 

Magyars,  218. 

Manetho,  14. 

Manners,  English,  361. 

Manufactures,  Babylonian,  64  ;  Florentme, 
297 ;  English,  361. 

Marat,  425. 

Marathon,  battle  of,  93. 

Mardonius,  invasion  of  Greece  by,  93. 

Marengo,  battle  of,  448. 

Maria  Theresa,  397,  398. 

Marie  Antoinette,  424. 

Marius,  t5i,  162. 

Marlborough,  Duke  of,  376. 

Marriage,  Roman,  205. 

Martel,  Charles,  225,  230,  231. 

Martial,  i88. 

Mary  de  Medici,  369. 

Mary  I.  (of  England),  340;  II.  (of  Eng- 
land), 362;  Queen  of  Scots,  340-342. 

Massilia,  82. 

Maurice  of  Saxony,  323. 

Medes,  the,  55,  56. 

Medici,    Lorenzo  de,  297 ;    Catherine  de 

334-337- 
Mendelssohn,  487. 
Messenians,  wars  of  Sparta  with,  3y. 
Metz,  surrender  of,  4S2. 
Meyerbeer,  4S6. 
Mill.  John  Stuart,  484. 
Miltiades,  93. 
Milton,  382,  38S. 
Mirabeau,  414. 
Mitbridates,  163. 


INDEX. 


495 


Mohammed,  early  life  of,  227  ;  character  of 
religious  system  of,  328:  death  of,  229. 

Molifere,  3S1. 

Monks,  rise  of,  275,  276. 

Montaigne,  348. 

Montesquieu,  437. 

Montfort,  Sir  Simon,  294. 

Moore,  Thomas,  485. 

Moreau,  428,  443. 

Morse,  Professor  S.  F.  B.,  487. 

Moscow,  burning  of,  454. 

"  Mountain,"  French  Revolutionary  party 
called  the,  419. 

Mozart,  439. 

Murat,  452. 

Murillo,  383,  388. 

Music,  founders  of  modem,  432. 

Mycale,  battle  of,  98. 

Mythology,  Greek,  115-  117. 

Nabonassar,  era  of,  33. 

Nabopolassar,  35. 

Nantes,  edict  of,  338. 

Napier,  38 1. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  427  ;   early  campaign 

of,  442  -  445  ;  made  Emperor,  449. 
Napoleon  III.,  465-470. 
Naseby,  battle  of,  356. 
National  Assembly,    doings  of   the,   413- 

419. 
Navarre,  foundation  of  kingdom  of,  299. 
Nebuchadnezzar,  35,  36. 
Necker,  411,  412,  414. 
Nelson,  448,  450. 
Nero,  189. 

Newton,  380,  381,  387. 
Nice,  469. 

Nicias,  Peace  of,  100. 
Nile,  battle  of  the,  445. 
Nimeguen,  Peace  of,  374. 
Nineteenth  century,  characteristics  of  the, 

44T. 
Nineveh,  description  of,  34  ;  its  fall,  34. 
Normans  in  England,  243,  244 ;  origin  of, 

288,  289. 
Norsemen,  invasion  of  France  by,  288. 
Notables,  Assembly  of  the,  412. 

O'CoNNELi,,  Daniel,  459. 
Octavius,  175,  178. 
Odoacer,  216,  222. 


Olympiad,  the  first,  84. 

Omar,  229. 

Oracles,  117. 

Orange,  William,  Prince  o^  36a 

Ordeal,  274. 

Origen,  200. 

Orleans,  Maid  of,  291. 

Ostracism,  94. 

Otho  I.,  285,  286. 

Ovid,  188. 

Page,  meaning  of  term,  267. 

Painting,  rise  of,  in  England,  431,  438. 

Palace,  mayors  of  the,  225. 

Papal  power,  growth  of  the,  247-251. 

Parliament,  origin  of  English,  294 ;  Englisb 

under  James  I.,  351  ;  under  Charles  I.i 

352 ;  the  Long,  353  ;  Barebone'9,  358. 
Paris,  siege  of,  in  1870,  481,  4O2. 
Parr,  Catherine,  329. 
Parthenon,  the,  127  ;  cut  of,  73. 
Pascal,  382. 

Patricians,  the  Roman,  135. 
Pavia,  battle  of,  322. 
Pelasgi,  76,  77. 
Pelopidas,  102. 
Pepin,  225. 

Pericles,  98,  gg  ;  ar  an  orator,  123. 
Persecutions  of  early  Christians,  195-108. 
Persia,  Empirr  of,  55 -M. 
Peter  the  Hermit,  254-256,  260;  the  Great 

402  -  407. 
Petition  of  Right,  352. 
Pharnaces,  170,  171. 
Pharsalia,  battle  of,  170. 
Philip,  King  of  Macedon,  103,  104;  Augu» 

tus,  262,  263,  289,  2go ;  II.,  of  Spain 

character  of,   331  ;    marriage   of,  wit* 

Mary  of  England,  340. 
Philosophy,  the  scholastic,  281. 
Phoenicians,  the,  43-49. 
Phrygia,  63  note. 
Piano-forte,  invention  of,  434. 
Pindar,  i2t. 
Pisistratus,  go. 
Pitt,  William,  394,  395. 
Pius  IX.,  470,  471. 
Plantagenets,  the,  293. 
Plata;a,  battle  of,  97. 
Plato,  124,  125. 
Plebeians,  early  oppression  of  Rocnarii  1351 

140,  143- 


496 


INDEX. 


Pliny,  i88. 

Plutarch,  123. 

Poitiers,  battle  of,  290. 

Poland,  partition  of,  408. 

Poles,  their  race,  217. 

Political  Economy,  contribution  of  Adam 
Smith  to,  433. 

Pompeii,  188,  206. 

Pompey,  163,  166,  16S-170. 

Pope,  Alexander,  437. 

Pope,  the,  meaning  of  term,  24S. 

Popes,  247-  251. 

Populus  Romanus,  meaning  of  term,  146. 

Portuguese,  account  of  discoveries  in  Africa, 
309,  310;  in  the  Indies,  311. 

Powder,  invention  of,  314,  315. 

Pragmatic  Sanction,  397. 

Prescott,  485. 

Pretender,  the,  393. 

Pretorian  Guard,  the,  191. 

Pride's  Purge,  356. 

Priests,  influence  of,  in  Egypt,  20. 

Printing,  origin  of,  313. 

Protestant,  origin  of  name,  321. 

Protestantism,  origin  of,  319,  320 ;  French 
form  of,  334. 

Prussia,  beginnings  of,  396 ;  history  of,  un- 
der Frederick  the  Great,  396-400. 

Ptolemies,  the,  108. 

Ptolemy  Soter,  108. 

Punic  wars,  148-  154. 

Puritanism,  rise  of,  341. 

Puritans,  austerity  of,  361. 

Pushkin,  485. 

Pydna,  battle  of,  iii. 

Pyramids,  battle  of  the,  445. 

Pythagoras,  123. 

Rabelais,  348. 

Race,  the  Italian,  132. 

Races,   the     historical,     compared,    4,    5  : 

Italian,  131  ;  historical,  of  Europe,  213. 
Racine,  381,  389. 
Raleigh,  348. 
Raphael,  347. 
Ravenna,  exarchs  of,  223. 
Rebellion,  history  of  Great  English,  314- 

357- 
Reform  Bill,  460 
Regulus,  149. 

Reichstadt,  Duke  of,  453,  468,  nott- 
Reign  of  Terror,.  420,  -A26. 


Religion,  Egyptian,  24 ;  Hindoo,  s*  • 
Greek,  115. 

Rembrandt,  388. 

Republic,  duration  of  Roman,  136. 

"  Restoration,"  the  English,  360. 

Revolution,  the  English,  of  1688,  363  ;  be- 
ginning of  American,  395 ;  French,  409- 
429;  French,  of  1830,  464;  of  1848, 
466. 

Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  438. 
I  Richard  I.  (Cceur  de  Lion),  262,  263  note. 
I  Richelieu,  Cardinal,  366,  367,  369-371. 

Richter,  484. 

Rights,  the  Bill  of,  363,  363  tiott- 

Rivoli,  battle  of,  443. 

Robespierre,  414,  425,  426. 

Roderick,  230. 

Romance  languages,  origin  of,  218. 

Roman  Empire,  boundaries  of,  182,  183 ; 
division  of,  194;  downfall  of,  211. 

Rome,  history  of,  130-211  ;  its  geography, 
130;  races,  131,  132;  early  history,  134; 
early  struggles,  136-142;  Punic  wars, 
148-154;  civil  struggle,  159-178;  the 
Empire,    182-211;    city   of,   184,   185, 

193- 
Romilly,  Sir  Samuel,  435. 
Romulus,  133,  134. 
Roses,  Wars  of  the,  294,  295. 
Rosetta  stone,  15. 
Roundheads,  354. 
Royal  Society,  foundation  of,  381. 
Rossini,  486. 
Rotten  boroughs,  459. 
Rousseau,  438. 
Roveredo,  battle  of,  443. 
Rubens,  382,  388. 
"Rump"  Parliament,  356. 
Russia,  invasion  of,  by  Napoleon,  454,  455. 
Russia,  rise  of,  402  ;  history  of,  under  Petal 

the  Great,  402  -  406. 
Ryswick,  Peace  of,  375. 

Sadowa,  battle  of,  480. 

Saint  Bartholomew,  Massacre  of,  337. 

Saint  Petersburg,  foundation  of,  406. 

Saladin,  262,  263  note. 

Salamis,  battle  of,  97. 

Sallust,  188. 

Sanction,  Pragmatic,  3-,i7« 

Sanscrit,  52. 

Sappho,  121. 


INDEX. 


A97 


Saracens,  their  Empire,  231  ;   learning  of, 

282,  283  ;  expelled  from  Spain,  299 
Satraps,  the  Persian,  59. 
Saxons,  meaning  of  term,  217;  native  seat 

217  ;  wars  of  Charlemagne  with,  236. 
Savoy,  469. 
Schiller,  438. 

Schleswig-Holstein  question,  478. 
Schoolmen,  281. 
Science,  Egyptian,  25 ;  progress  of,  in  i8th 

century,  432. 
Scipio,  Publius,  151. 
Scots,  Mary  Queen  of,  340-342. 
Sculpture,    Egyptian,    23  ;    Assyrian,    34  ; 

Greek,   127. 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  484. 
Scotus,  John,  274. 
Sedan,  battle  of,  4S1. 
Seleucidae,  kingdom  of  the,  log. 
Seleucus,  109. 

Semites,  their  historical  representatives,  3. 
Sennacherib,  33. 
Sesostris,  19. 
Seven  Years'  War,  398. 
Seymour,  Jane,  329. 
Shakespeare,    comparison   of,   with    Greek 

dramatists,  122 ;  life  of,  348. 
Sicily,  Roman  province  of,  150. 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  348. 
Sieyes,  446. 
Silesia,  398. 

Silk,  first  manufacture  of,  279. 
Simonides,  120. 

Slavery,  Roman,  T  57,  158;  abolition  of  Eng- 
lish colonial,  460. 
Slaves,  price  of  Roman,  206. 
Slavonians  (see  also  Slaves),  217. 
Smerdis,  58. 
Smith,  Adam,  433,  436. 
Socrates,  124. 
Solferino,  battle  of,  472. 
Solomon,  reign  of,  40. 
Solon,  89. 

Sophists  among  the  Greeks,  123,  124. 
Sophocles,  121. 
South  Sea  Scheme,  393- 
Spain,  history  of,  in  Middle  Ages,  298,  299. 
Spanish  succession,  war  of,  376. 
Sparta,  growth  of,  85  ;  education  in,  86,  87  ; 

constitution  of,  87. 
Spenser,  347. 
Spinning-jenny,  433- 


Spinoza,  380,  387. 

Spires,  Diet  of,  321. 

Squire,  duty  of,  268. 

Standing  armies,  establishment  of,  315. 

Star-Chamber,  abolition  of,  353. 

States-General,  meeting  of  the,  412,  413. 

Steam-engine,    improvement  of,  by   Watt, 

433- 
Stephenson,  George,  487. 
Stereotyping,  first  practice  of,  434. 
Sterne,  438. 
St.  Helena,  457. 
Strafford,  353. 

Stuarts,  the  line  of,  350,  350  note,  351. 
Sulla,  161  - 163. 
Superstition,  growth  of,  in   Middle  Ages, 

274. 
Supremacy,  Act  of,  341. 
Swedenborg,  436. 
Sylvester,  274. 

Tacitus,  189. 

Tarquinius  Superbus,  135. 

Tasso,  349. 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  486. 

Terror,  Reign  of,  420,  426. 

Tertullian,  200. 

Teutons,  the,  207,  208,  210  :  historic  influ 

ence  of,  214 ;  unity  of,  215. 
Thackeray,  486. 
Thales,  123. 
Thapsus,  battle  of,  171. 
Thebes  (Greek  state),  supremacy  oi,  loa. 
Themistocles,  94. 
Theodoric,  222,  223. 
Theodosius,  193. 
Thermopyla;,  battle  of,  96. 
Thiers,  485. 
Thorwaldsen,  486. 
Thucydides,  122,  123. 
Tigris,  the  river,  description  of,  2%. 
Tilsit,  Treaty  of,  452. 
Tin,  Phoenician  trade  in,  67. 
Titian,  347. 

Tobacco,  introduction  of,  into  England,  344. 
Tory,  354. 

Toulon,  siege  of,  428. 
Tournament,  269. 
Trafalgar,  battle  of,  450. 
Tribonian,  221. 
Tribunes,    establishment    of   Romsa,    14O 

141 ;  military,  142. 


498 


INDEX. 


Triumvirate,  the  second,  176. 

Troy,  siege  of,  78  ;  site  of,  80  note. 

Tudor,  House  of,  295. 

Turgot,  411. 

Turks,  rise  of  the  Ottoman,  306,  307. 

Turner,  486 

Twelve  Tables,  laws  of  the,  141. 

Tytho-Brahe,  349. 

Tyndall,  John,  484. 

1  yre,  commerce  of,  48. 

Tyrtaus,  120. 

Ulm,  capture  of,  450. 

Union,    treaty  of,    between    England  and 

Scotland,  390. 
Universities,   establishment   of,  in   Middle 

Ages,  280,  2S1. 
Ur,  31. 
Utica,  171. 
Utrecht,  Treaty  of,  377. 

Vaccination,  discovery  of,  434. 

Vandals,  210,  216. 

Vandyck,  382,  388. 

Vassal,  241,  242. 

Vedas,  the,  52. 

Venice,  223  ;  growth  o^,  296 

Verdun,  Treaty  of,  285. 

Verdi,  487. 

Vernet,  Horace,  486. 

Victor  Emanuel,  471  -  473. 

Victoria,  461. 

Virgil,  188. 

Visigoths,  settlement  of,  in  Italy,  216 ;   in 

Spain,  216. 
Voltaire,  437. 

SEAGRAM,  battle  o(  453. 


Wallenstein,  365,  367. 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  394. 

War,  the  Jugurthine,  161 ;  the  Thirty  Years' 
364-36S;  the  Seven  Years',  398,  39t 
note;  the  Franco-Prussian,  469,  480- 
482;  the  Six  Weeks',  479,  480. 

Waterloo,  battle  of,  456. 

Watt,  James,  433,  439. 

Weber,  486. 

Wedgwood,  439. 

Weissenburg,  battle  of,  481. 

West,  Benjamin,  439. 

Westphalia,  Treaty  of,  36$  ;  I^sace  of,  333 , 
kingdom  of,  452. 

Whig,  354. 

Wilberforce,  435,  460. 

William  I.  (of  Germany),  478,  482  ;  III.  (o) 
England),  362  ;  IV.  (of  England),  459 . 
the  Conqueror,   289;    of  Orange,  3321 

333- 
Wines,  Roman,  204. 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  325,  326. 
Woman,  position   of,   among  the  Greeks, 

129  ;   education  of  English  women  ic 

the  17th  century,  386. 
Wool,  manufacture  of,  27S. 
Wordsworth,  William,  484. 
Worcester,  battle  of,  358. 
Worth,  battle  of,  481. 
Wycliffe,  319. 

Xenophon,  56,  56  note,  123. 

Xerxes,  invasion  of  Greece  by,  95,  97. 

"Year  III.,"  constitution  of  the,  441* 
York,  House  of,  295. 

ZoUverein,  the  German,  ^^ 


Date  Due 


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Library  Bureau  Cat.  No.  1137 


